JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Alvin “Pete” Carpenter, CSX Transportation president and CEO from 1992 to 1999, has died at age 77.

The Florida Times-Union reports that Carpenter, who had been suffering from cancer, died on Aug. 20.

Carpenter was vice chairman of the railroad’s parent company, CSX Corp., until his retirement in 2001. He began a 38-year career in railroading as a brakeman for the Louisville& Nashville Railroad.  A native of Berea, Ky., he graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in political science, served on two organizations for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — the Commission on Workers’ Compensation Reform and the Advisory Council on Base Realignment and Closure — and served on a number of corporate boards, as well as the board of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He was chairman of the orchestra board in 2002-03.

Mike Tolbert, CSX public relations director under Carpenter, told the Times-Union that Carpenter “was a button-down corporate-driven leader, but he also had a soul and a very big heart and he gave much more than he received. … He was brilliant, he knew what he was doing and people respected him.”

Carpenter is survived by his wife, a daughter, and three grandchildren.