Roger Enrico, the PepsiCo chief executive who nearly dethroned Coca-Cola in the 1980s, died on Wednesday while vacationing in the Cayman Islands. He was 71.

His death, on Grand Cayman, was sudden, his family said, and the cause was not immediately specified.

Mr. Enrico joined PepsiCo in 1971 after serving in the Navy in the Vietnam War, and he rose swiftly through the ranks. He oversaw the company’s advertising campaign during the so-called Cola Wars, making marketing deals with celebrities like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Michael J. Fox. Pepsi’s market share grew, prompting an anxious Coca-Cola to change its formula in 1985, only to quickly change it back in the face of a tide of customer wrath.

“We have lost one of the true legends of our company and our industry,” Indra K. Nooyi, the chairwoman and chief executive of PepsiCo, said in a statement on Thursday.