TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The founder and chairman of the Eslite Group (誠品) famous for its bookstores, Robert Wu (吳清友), died at a Taipei hospital Tuesday evening aged 66, according to media reports.

He built a book store opened 28 years ago into an international chain of luxury book shops combined with fashion, design, lifestyle, gourmet food courts and even a hotel, often in fashionable locations. The original outlet became a 24-hour operation.

Only last week, the company opened an underground book alley near Zhongshan Mass Rapid Transit station in Taipei and announced plans to take over management of a nearby Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store.

Wu started off in the food and catering sector, but after developing an interest in books, he decided to give his career a new direction. Eslite reportedly made nothing but losses in its first 15 years, but the shops gained a reputation as a comfortable and cozy place to enjoy hours browsing through books. Wu saw his stores as cultural plazas more than as plain commercial sites.

The official cause of death was not yet known Tuesday evening, but he was known to say in interviews that he had been born with a heart problem. He underwent major heart surgery at least twice, reports said.

His daughter Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) has played a large part in management over the past few years.