(Bloomberg) -- Robert Benmosche, the combative former chiefexecutive officer of American International Group Inc. who led theinsurer, once the world’s largest, to repay a $182.3 billiontaxpayer bailout, has died. He was 70.

He died on Friday at NYU Langone Medical Center in New Yorkfollowing treatment for lung cancer, AIG said in a statement.The insurer announced in October 2010 that Benmosche had cancer,and the CEO said last August that he’d moved up his departure afterhis prognosis worsened. Benmosche was replaced by Peter Hancock onSept. 1.

[Related: Benmosche at AIG: A timeline]

Benmosche came out of retirement in August 2009 to take over acompany reeling from losses on failed housing-market bets, and ledthe insurer for half a decade. He put New York-based AIG on the road to repaying taxpayers and along theway, the always-tan, silver-haired Benmosche became the mostoutspoken AIG chief since Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, whowas forced out in 2005 as the insurer was investigated foraccounting irregularities.

“I create so much trouble, don’t I?,” Benmosche told employeesat a meeting shortly after he started. “That’s my job.”

Benmosche sold major divisions and focused on U.S. lifeinsurance and global property-casualty coverage. He also sparredwith government overseers, rebelled against U.S.-applied pay capsthat he said limited the firm’s ability to retain staff, threatenedto quit at least twice and succeeded in ousting then- ChairmanHarvey Golub with a “him-or-me” showdown.

[Related: Bob Benmosche: Bring on Tomorrow]

Leadership Power

“Nobody gave AIG a chance back in 2009,” Steve Miller,AIG’s non-executive chairman, said in a September 2014 interview onBloomberg Television. From Benmosche, “I have learned, one moretime, the power of greater leadership, even in the most disastrousof circumstances,” Miller said.

Benmosche was AIG’s fifth chief in five years, finally bringingstability to the top job after a succession of leaders felled bymarket losses and the bailout. The CEO revolving door afterGreenberg included Martin Sullivan, Robert Willumstad and EdwardLiddy.

“He’s the best they’ve had since I left the company,” Greenbergsaid of Benmosche in a 2010 interview with Fox Business Network.Greenberg, who ran AIG for about 38 years, had succeededCornelius Vander Starr and took the company public in 1969.

‘No Idea’

Liddy, the former chief executive of Allstate Corp., wasinstalled on Sept. 18, 2008, as chairman and CEO by the U.S.Treasury Department and voluntarily took an annual salary of $1. Heheld both jobs until August 2009 when he resigned, saying in afarewell letter to employees that he “had no idea what I was infor” when he joined AIG. “It hasn’t been easy, and goodnessknows, it hasn’t been pretty,” Liddy wrote.

Benmosche, whose salary was $7 million in 2010, his first fullyear, had his own tribulations as CEO, chafing at governmentoversight of the insurer.

[Related: Benmosche sped up AIG exit amid year-to-live cancerprognosis]

Investors benefited from Benmosche’s turnaround tactics, afterthe stock plunged 97 percent in 2008, the year housing- marketrelated losses pushed the firm to the brink of collapse. The sharesclosed at $56.06 on Benmosche’s last day as CEO, compared with$11.39 on the day his hiring was announced.

Robert Herman Benmosche was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May29, 1944. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics fromAlfred University in Alfred, New York, in 1966, where he played onthe football team. After college, he served as a lieutenant in theU.S. Army Signal Corps from 1966 to 1968.

Banker, Broker

Benmosche worked in technology at Arthur D. Little Inc., aCambridge, Massachusetts-based management consulting firm, beforejoining Chase Manhattan Bank in 1979. From 1982 to 1995, he was atsecurities broker PaineWebber Inc., where he rose to executive vicepresident and helped guide its acquisition of Kidder Peabody &Co.

He moved to MetLife Inc. in 1995 as executive vice president,becoming president and CEO about two years later. Benmoschetransformed the New York-based company into the largest publiclytraded U.S. life insurer from a mutual owned by customers.

After retiring in 2006 from MetLife, Benmosche moved to Croatia,where he owned a villa with a 12.5-acre vineyard and had acollection of thousands of bottles of wine. Benmosche wanted tobring Zinfandel wine-making back to Croatia, where the variety mayhave originated, he told Wine Spectator magazine in December2009.

Croatia’s Allure

“People say, why would you want to live in Croatia?” saidBenmosche, who said he spent half the year there during hisretirement. “Because it’s a beautiful place and it’s safe.”

He said he initially turned down the AIG job becauseof the lambasting that his predecessor, Liddy, had received duringcongressional hearings in March and May 2009 regarding employeebonuses.

“I wasn’t interested in this job, I’ve got to tell you, I said‘no’ three times,” Benmosche told staff at an August 2009 meeting.“I said to all the key people in Washington I met over the last twoweeks, ‘Why in God’s name would you want me to be your CEO? I’mangry about everything you did. There isn’t anything you didright.’”

One reason he took the AIG post was to help restoreconfidence in the insurance industry, Benmosche told staff.

“It affects me personally because, quite frankly, I still got alot of MetLife stock,” he said. “And if I can improve everythinghere, I can make some money here, and I can make a lot of moneythere, too. And then I can add more vineyards.”

Biggest Loss

In 2008, AIG reported the biggest quarterly loss inU.S. corporate history and posted almost $100 billion in net lossesthat year, fueled by bets on subprime-mortgagesecurities. AIG was deemed by the Treasury Department a“systemically significant failing institution” and was the onlycompany to receive bailout funds through a facility created forsuch firms.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said AIG’s bailout, aday after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., had madehim “more angry” than any other episode in the financial crisis.The business was akin to a hedge fund “attached to a large andstable insurance company,” Bernanke said.

In his first month at AIG, Benmosche drew criticism forvacationing in Croatia. In a town hall meetingwith AIG staff that month, Benmosche spoke ofridding AIG of government oversight.

Bailed-out firms have to “start rebuilding themselves, withoutgovernment regulation, government control, government decisions onhow you pay people,” Benmosche said. “If we do it the right way,I’m convinced we can restore credibility in our industry, as wellas for our country.”

Washington ‘Crazies’

Liddy’s relations with Congress and federal regulators wastesty. He was twice grilled by lawmakers over bonuses paid duringhis tenure. Benmosche said he would leave working with Congress toGolub, the former CEO of American Express Inc., while he focused onoperations and decided which units to keep.

Golub “is going to run interference for me in Washingtonbecause, I’ve got to tell you, I can’t be running the business hereand dealing with all those crazies down in Washington,” Benmoschesaid on Aug. 11, 2009, adding, “actually, they’re not. They’re verynice, sophisticated people. Vote for them. Please. And give themyour money.”

Benmosche also criticized then-New York Attorney General AndrewCuomo on Aug. 11, 2009, over Cuomo’s handling of a bonus probe ofthe company, saying he “doesn’t deserve to be ingovernment.”AIG issued an apology on Benmosche’s behalf andsaid that the executive was responding to workers’ concern aboutharassment amid the bonus furor.

Welcomes Regulators

Over time, Benmosche shifted his stance toward federalregulators. In 2012, Benmosche said AIGwouldn’t contest adesignation as a systemically important financial institution,subjecting it to extra oversight.

“In fact, we welcome supervision by the Federal Reserve,” hesaid in a letter to regulators.

Golub, who joined AIG in 2009, weeks before Benmoschebecame CEO, resigned as chairman on July 14, 2010. Benmosche oftenclashed with Golub and pushed for his ouster after feuding with himover the stalled divestiture of AIA Group Ltd., AIG’s main Asiadivision.

Golub was succeeded by Miller, an AIG director whobecame the company’s sixth chairman since 2005. Miller oversaw thebankruptcy of auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp. and helped ChryslerCorp. return to profitability.

Benmosche’s strategy was to delay asset sales until higherprices could be garnered, telling employees he was “appalled” atpressure from U.S. regulators to liquidate the company.

Asset Sales

AIG has retrenched the derivatives unit responsible forhousing-market losses. The company has sold more than $75 billionworth of businesses and assets since 2008, including a U.S.consumer lender, a Russian bank, an Israeli mortgage insurer andits New York headquarters building. The sale of plane-leasingbusiness International Lease Finance Corp. in May 2014 was the lastmajor divestiture, AIGsaid at the time.

Among the biggest deals that helped AIG repay therescue were the $16 billion sale of Asian insurer American LifeInsurance Co. to MetLife and the divestiture of AIA in four publicofferings that raised a total of $35 billion.

The U.S. wound down the rescue through six share sales afterowning as much as 92 percent of AIG. Following the final salein December 2012, the Treasury Department had recouped more than$200 billion, giving the U.S. a profit of about $22.7 billion onthe bailout.

Health Disclosure

“We are not going to stop here and take a rest,” Benmosche wroteto employees in a memo at the time. “We are not at the finishline.”

On Oct. 25, 2010, weeks after announcing AIG’s road map toindependence, Benmosche told staff that he had begun treatment forcancer, without disclosing the type, and said he’d step down in2012. Benmosche later decided he’s stay on until the first quarterof 2015, then moved up his departure to August 2014.

Just prior to leaving AIG, Benmosche sat for an interviewwith Bloomberg TV’s Betty Liu at his Croatian villa. He told Liuthat he felt he’d completed his goals for AIG, and explainedhis decision to depart by citing advice his mother once gavehim.

“My mother told me, ‘Don’t wait too long,’ and I’m glad I didn’twait too long,” Benmosche said. “She said, ‘Live your life whenyou’re healthy enough to live it.’”

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