Virgil Abloh, the founder of luxury streetwear brand Off-White and artistic director of men’s wear at Louis Vuitton, has died from cancer at the age of 41.

One of the most influential designers of his generation, Abloh had been privately battling the disease for several years, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said in a statement on Sunday.

“We are all shocked after this terrible news. Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom,” Bernard Arnault, chairman, and chief executive officer of LVMH, said in a statement.

“The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow, and we are all thinking of his loved ones after the passing of their husband, their father, their brother, or their friend,” he added.

Abloh joined Vuitton in March 2018, and his first show in June 2018 marked a new chapter in fashion history: the moment when streetwear crashed the hallowed halls of luxury brands.

In September 2019, the designer said he was taking a break from work on doctor’s orders. He never specified the nature of his illness.