(Bloomberg) -- Stanford Kurland, founder of PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust and a former executive at Countrywide Financial Corp., has died. He was 68.

Kurland, PennyMac’s non-executive chairman, died from complications related to Covid-19 as he was battling brain cancer, the firm said Monday in a statement. He founded the company in 2008 and was its former chief executive officer and executive chairman.

“Covid-19 has robbed us of a great leader, mentor and friend,” PennyMac CEO David Spector said in the statement. “Stan leaves an indelible mark not only on PennyMac, but on the mortgage industry he helped to build and shape.”

Kurland spent 27 years at Countrywide, which was once the biggest U.S. residential-mortgage lender. After his departure in 2006, the firm foundered amid the worldwide credit crisis and was acquired by Bank of America Corp. in 2008.

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