Thomas Neurath, longtime managing director and later chairman of U.K.-based Thames & Hudson, died in London on June 13. He was 84. Though based in London, Neurath was one of the most influential and respected figures in illustrated book publishing throughout the book world.

Thames & Hudson was founded by Neurath’s father, Walter, in 1949. Thomas joined the publishing house as an editor in 1961. He oversaw the development of the popular World of Art series, which offered scholarly illustrated introductions to all aspects of visual culture. Published in paperback at prices students could afford, with texts by such major experts as John Boardman and Tamara Talbot Rice, and now containing some 300 titles, it continues to be a flagship series for Thames & Hudson.

Thomas took over the day-to-day running of Thames & Hudson in 1967 after the death of his father. He steadily built up the publisher’s world presence through exports and the creation of offices in Paris, Melbourne, and Asia, as well as engaging in co-edition opportunities with publishers in France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and North America.

Neurath stepped down from his role as managing director of Thames & Hudson in 2005, assuming the role of chairman until 2021. His family continues to be involved in the business: Thomas’s older daughter, Johanna Neurath, is chair of Thames & Hudson Publishing Ltd, while his younger daughter, Susanna Reisz Neurath, is chair of Thames & Hudson Holdings Ltd.

“We are grateful to everyone at Thames & Hudson and the wider publishing community, who enriched Thomas’s professional life, his great passion for good books, and filled his years with stimulating conversations, creative collaborations, inspiring challenges and, most importantly of all, many deeply cherished friendships,” the family said in a statement.

“Thomas was not just a unique, dynamic, and extremely talented force in global publishing,” said Will Balliett, who oversees the publisher’s U.S. operations as president and publisher of Thames & Hudson Inc. “He was also enormously human in the best sense, endlessly curious, never viewed the highest quality as being separate from good business, and never lost sight of his family’s vision of the two rivers—of a global openness to cultures and markets being the foundation of Thames & Hudson’s ongoing success.”

Richard Charkin, director of Bloomsbury Publishing, said that Neurath “was one of the last representatives of that post-war immigration boom from continental Europe that transformed British publishing from a cozy oligopoly to a vibrant, risk-taking, globally orientated, and high-quality industry that we enjoy today.”