The founder and honorary chair of Lotte Group Shin Kyuk-ho died Sunday at the age of 98.

Lotte Group said in a statement that Shin had been hospitalized in Seoul to get medical treatment for various age-related symptoms and passed away at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Shin was the last living first-generation founder of the country's major conglomerates: Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK and Lotte. 

Shin, born in 1921, founded Lotte in Japan in 1948 as a small chewing gum manufacturer.

Lotte Group is now the fifth-largest conglomerate in South Korea with a wide business portfolio from retail stores to entertainment.

Shin's funeral service will be held at 7 a.m. on Wednesday at Lotte World Mall in southern Seoul.