Masatoshi Ito

Itō was born in Tokyo on 30 April 1924. His parents, Senzo and Yuki Itō, operated a dry goods shop named Yokado.^[1] After finishing high school, Itō had a short stint in the Japanese military and working at what would become Mitsubishi Materials before returning to work at his parents' shop.^[1][2] Following the death of his brother in 1956, Itō took over Yokado, which was then a clothing shop. He soon renamed the company Ito-Yokado.^[1][3]

Itō was the owner, founder and honorary chairman of the $30 billion (in sales) Ito-Yokado retailing group, the second largest retailing organization in the world, which includes more than 10,000 7-Elevens in Japan and the US. Itō built the company from a small apparel store in Tokyo, into a corporation with annual revenues of more than $28 billion and a labour force of more than 125,000. The Ito-Yokado Group includes more than 10,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan and 5,800 in North America, along with 1,000 other stores, department stores, restaurants, specialty shops, supermarkets and superstores. Ito-Yokado was also the Japanese franchisee for Oshman's Sporting Goods stores, Robinson department stores, and Denny's restaurants. The company has begun opening superstores in China.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Itō resigned as president of Ito-Yokado following allegations his staff made payments to the yakuza.^[4] Itō denied knowledge of the payments, though some of the money came from his wife's bank account, but nonetheless took responsibility for the payments.^[5]

Itō was a significant supporter of the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, with an initial $3 million gift to help build the school's current home and a subsequent $20 million gift.^{[citation needed]} His son, Junro, earned his MBA at the Drucker School in 1989 and was active in the Drucker alumni association in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

Itō was married and had three children.^[6] He died on 10 March 2023, at the age of 98.^[3][1][7]