Roy Huffington, an oilman and philanthropist who was an ambassador to Austria, died Friday, while he was traveling in Italy with his family. According to the Baltimore Sun, funeral home George H. Lewis and Sons in Houston announced that the 90-year-old founder of oil and gas firm Huffco died on July 11.

Roy Huffington founded the Huffington Foundation, donating millions of dollar to charity and served as chairman of the New York-based Asia Society, an organization meant to maintain and strengthen ties between Asia and United States in the 1980’s.

His firm was founded in 1956, helping Indonesia to open up to the U.S. oil and gas industry. Huffco was sold for $600 million to the Chinese Petroleum Corp. of Taiwan in 1990.

Roy Huffington earned his Ph.D. in geology from Harvard and served as a naval officer on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet during World War II. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1990-1993. After he sold his company, he began to travel around the world. He was a great and generous man.

“He was a wonderful man, and Barbara and I send our sincere condolences to his two children, Terry and Michael,” said former President George H.W. Bush, according to United Press International.