Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO who built company into a powerhouse, has died

Jack Welch, who built General Electric into an industrial and financial powerhouse and became known for an aggressive management style, has died. He was 84.

The cause of death was renal failure, his wife, Suzy Welch, told The New York Times.

Welch, who was chairman and CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001, presided over a huge increase in the company's stock and operations.

Named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune in 1999, Welch became known for his willingness to make big bets, slash jobs and sell businesses. He also published best-selling business books like "Winning" and "Jack: Straight from the Gut" and began a second career as a corporate leadership guru.

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"If you grew up in business in the '90s, early 2000s, Jack Welch had a huge impact on the way you approach business," said Timothy Hubbard, assistant professor of management at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, who studies CEOs.

Welch left an imprint on business strategy and corporate governance that "you see ripple through companies even today," Hubbard said. "I still refer students to his book."

The year before Welch became CEO, GE posted about $27 billion in revenue. In his last full year as CEO, the company had nearly $130 billion in revenue, having recently achieved the title as the most valuable company in the world. Its total market capitalization climbed from $14 billion to $410 billion.

Welch, who was born in 1935, joined GE as a chemical engineer in 1960 after earning degrees from the University of Massachusetts and the University of Illinois.

He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the company's youngest vice president in 1972 and earning the title of vice chairman in 1979. He soon succeeded Reginald Jones, becoming the company's eighth chairman and CEO.

Welch shook up the company, laying off tens of thousands of employees in his first five years. That earned him the unwanted nickname “Neutron Jack,” after the nuclear weapon that kills people but leaves buildings largely intact. Welch bristled at the name, insisting that successful companies needed to be agile.

During his reign, GE also acquired companies like RCA, which then owned NBC, and investment bank Kidder Peabody.

Welch’s results-driven management approach and hands-on style were credited with helping GE turn a financial corner.

"He definitely had a strategy where the lowest-performing employees were filtered out of the company, and this is one area that a lot of people didn't like," Hubbard said. "A number of companies adopted that type of strategy."

He went by the motto "fix it, close it or sell it," which he said he got from management consultant Peter Drucker.

While Welch is credited with building GE into a massive company, transforming it from a maker of appliances and light bulbs into an industrial and financial services powerhouse, he also made mistakes along the way.

For example, the company's GE Capital division grew too large under his wing, Hubbard said, and the company is still trying to excise that part of the business from its balance sheet.

Along with Welch’s fame came greater scrutiny. Welch found himself defending his retirement compensation from GE. Amid a wave of corporate scandals, details of Welch’s GE perks emerged in court papers amid his divorce from his wife of 13 years, Jane Beasley, in 2002. He received millions of dollars in benefits, including unlimited personal use of GE’s planes, office space and financial services.

After the perks became public, Welch reimbursed the company for many of them and paid for the use of aircraft and other services.

Despite his reputation for being willing to let people go, Welch described his management philosophy as betting on the right people.

"I think strategy, execution and people all go together, and if you don’t get the people right, the strategy doesn’t matter. And if you don’t get the people right, you won’t get the execution. So you’re dead," he said.

Jeff Immelt, who succeeded Welch as CEO, said Monday in a statement that "Jack was always direct, but his frankness was appealing and effective. His informality and accessibility made GE a team."

Immelt, who retired from GE in 2017, is now chairman of Tuya Global Strategic Committee.

“Today is a sad day for the entire GE family," GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp said in a statement. "Jack was larger than life and the heart of GE for half a century. He reshaped the face of our company and the business world."

On Monday, Culp recalled his last encounter with Welch.

"When I last saw him, what I remember most vividly was when he asked me, ‘So how exactly are you running the company?’ Jack was still in it – committed to GE’s success," Culp said.

Welch is survived by his third wife, Suzy Welch, and four children from his first marriage. Jack and Suzy Welch wrote a regular column together and management books, including "Winning" in 2005.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.