Eiji Toyoda, who helped steer Toyota’s rise, dies at 100

By Yoko Kubota TOKYO (Reuters) – Eiji Toyoda, who helped steer Toyota Motor Corp's global rise and pioneered the automaker's vaunted production system, died on Tuesday, the Japanese automaker said. He was 100. Toyoda, cousin of the automaker's founder, died of heart failure in Toyota City, the company said in a statement. A taciturn engineer, Toyoda served as president between 1967 and 1982. He was chairman until 1994 and remained an honorary advisor at Toyota up until the time of his death. Over his career, Toyoda presided over Toyota's rise in the U.S. …