Tsuneo Watanabe, the representative director and editor-in-chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group, died Thursday at a hospital in Tokyo, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. Watanabe, who was 98, had pneumonia, the daily said.

Watanabe played a prominent role in Japan's political and professional sports arenas.

Born in 1926, he graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in philosophy and joined the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1950.

Throughout his career, Watanabe maintained close ties with influential political figures.

As a political reporter, he extensively covered key figures such as Banboku Ohno, the first vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

Before becoming chairman of the editorial board in 1979, he was the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief.

In 1991, he became president of the company, later assuming the role of president of the group headquarters. He served as chairman for over 12 years starting in 2004.

He subsequently held the positions of representative director and editor-in-chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group.

Leveraging his strong connections with sitting prime ministers and influential politicians, he advocated for constitutional amendments and, in 2007, a coalition between the LDP and the Democratic Party of Japan.

In 1994, Watanabe proposed a constitutional amendment that explicitly stated the retention of self-defense capabilities, leading an editorial push advocating for constitutional reform. He shared this goal with the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom he had a close relationship.

However, there was always criticism of a top newspaper executive intervening directly in politics.

Watanabe was also a prolific businessman, serving as the head of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group — a conglomerate that also oversees the renowned Japanese baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants, as well as the amusement park Yomiuriland, under Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings. The group also holds a partial stake as top shareholder in Nippon Television Holdings, the parent company of Nippon TV.

Hailed as the most powerful figure in Nippon Professional Baseball for decades, Watanabe became the owner of the Yomiuri Giants in 1996 and remained so until 2004. He played a central role in the reform of Japanese professional baseball, including overhauling the draft system and introducing free agency.

After a scandal revealed that the Giants had given money to a university student they targeted in the draft, Watanabe resigned as owner, though he returned as chairman within a year.

In 2014, he became senior adviser of the Giants, but resigned following the 2015 baseball gambling scandal. Despite this, he retained significant influence over the team's management.

A funeral will be held with only close family members in attendance, the paper said.