Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first leader after the city returned to Chinese rule, has died at the age of 89.

The former shipping scion took over the reins from the last British Governor Chris Patten in July 1997 when the UK handed Hong Kong back to China, ending more than 150 years of British control.

Tung’s rocky tenure was marked by the Asian Financial Crisis, two major epidemics, and historic protests which attracted criticism of his administration. He eventually resigned in 2005.

Tung died on Tuesday night surrounded by loved ones, local media reported. His office described him as a man “devoted to his country and its people”.

“His noble character and integrity will live on forever in our hearts,” it said in a statement.

Born in Shanghai in 1937, Tung graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Liverpool University in the UK before moving to the US, where he worked at General Electric for almost a decade.

In 1969, he moved to Hong Kong and worked in his father’s shipping conglomerate, the Orient Overseas, eventually taking over the reins in 1979.

His political career began in 1992 when he was appointed a member of Patten’s executive council.

Despite having little political experience, Tung was believed to be handpicked by Beijing to lead Hong Kong after the handover. He was seen as a loyalist, especially after China’s state-run banks helped rescue his family business during a global slump in the mid-1980s.

During a reception at the Great Hall of the People in January 1996, China’s then-president Jiang Zemin walked across a packed room to shake Tung’s hands – a widely photographed gesture that at the time famously signalled Beijing’s backing of Tung for the top job.