Tony Hsieh, the ex-CEO of Zappos, has died at age 46 from injuries caused by a house fire

• Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of shoes and clothes retailer Zappos, has died at age 46.
• The cause of death was injuries he sustained from a house fire, a spokesperson told TechCrunch.
• After 20 years with the company, he had announced his retirement in late August.
• Zappos' current CEO, Kedar Deshpande, called Hsieh a "tremendous visionary and an incredible human being."

Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of shoes and clothes retailer Zappos, has died aged 46.

The cause of death was injuries he sustained from a house fire, a spokesperson for Hsieh told TechCrunch. He was apparently visiting his family in Connecticut at the time.

CNN reported that he died peacefully and surrounded by his relatives.

Hsieh was a Harvard Graduate who first worked for the Las Vegas-based company in 1999, back when it was named ShoeSite.com, according to The LA Times. The company was sold 10 years later to Amazon for $1.2 billion.

Despite the sale, Hsieh was still involved with the company, and recently retired after working there for a total of 20 years.

The entrepreneur had also worked tirelessly to breathe new life into the neglected downtown Las Vegas area. In 2013, he moved the company headquarters from the suburbs to the old City Hall building, AP reported at the time.

Zappos CEO, Kedar Deshpande, wrote in a statement Friday: "The world has lost a tremendous visionary and an incredible human being. "We recognize that not only have we lost our inspiring former leader, but many of you have also lost a mentor and a friend."