PHOTO: REUTERSHIROSHI Okuda, who served as president and then chairman of Toyota Motor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has died. The son of a small securities company manager, Okuda was born outside Nagoya on Dec 29, 1932. His first years at Toyota were spent in its accounting division and he later oversaw the company’s Asia and Oceania unit. To turn things around, he pushed for faster growth overseas and an overhaul of its stodgy image at home. He left the board in 2009 as part of a managerial revamp, but retained influence with Toyota’s management from outside the company.