BOISE - Idaho's billionaire potato king passed away in his Boise home Sunday morning. J.R. Simplot was 99.

The Ada County Coroner says Simplot died of natural causes at 10:52 a.m.

The family issue a statement late Monday afternoon:

"The Simplot family is grateful for the outpouring of love and condolences during this time of loss in our family. “J.R.” as you knew him, Dad, and Granddad to us, seemed larger than life, and his passing after 99 years of a very full life, leaves a large hole in our lives."

"We appreciate the privacy that has been given to us as a family as we deal with the innumerable details that must be attended to at this time. We ask for your continued cooperation as we work through what will be a very important week in our lives."

Simplot was born Jack R. Simplot, growing up in Declo, Idaho, back in the days when riding and roping were as much a part of the man as the West.

And from the beginning, he had a golden touch. He dropped out of school when he was 14 to rent and farm 40 acres of land.

But before the computer chip, before his potato chips, before the cattle -- it was hogs that got Simplot's juggernaut going.

"They went to ten cents a pound," Simplot said during a previous interview. "Nobody heard of ten cents a pound for a hog in those days. It was all 4 or 5 or 6 cents a pound. But anyway, I sold all my hogs and made about $100,000."

He shrewdly parlayed his first hundred thousand dollars into new investments in potato storage houses.

"And that is what got me started," Simplot said. "And I took that money and I started to build more potato houses, and I got big into shipping of Idaho potatoes."

It would prove to be a hallmark of Simplot's strategy. Grow your business, re-invest, and never sell out.

He knew getting his produce to market quickly meant he needed to make sure he wasn't reliant on others for transportation so he began investing in the shipping.

He made his second fortune before his 21st birthday. He survived the depression and when World War II hit, Simplot was ready to feed troops, sailors and airmen.

"I took it as an opportunity because I was the only guy that had a dryer," the potato tycoon once said.

By figuring out how to freeze dry potatoes he could create a product that could be sent overseas.

"We wrapped 'em up awful good and sent them over there and they are them and they were good food, there is no question about it. It was just dried potatoes, that is all they were."

From potato processing, Simplot began expanding his empire to include beef cattle, and cheese production. He had become a billionaire, but he wasn't done.

He knew a good bet when he saw one and decided to invest heavily in an unknown local manufacturer of computer chips...Micron Technology is unknown no longer... thanks to J.R. Simplot, who saw and opportunity and took a chance.

"That was an accident, I happened to buy in on a guy who knew what he was doing and he proved it."

"And we have a crew that knows how to make memory."

On his 90th birthday in 1999, then-Gov. Phil Batt declared one week JR Simplot Week in Idaho in front of a large and growing family.

Simplot always said his philosophy behind making a buck isn't a secret. It is grounded in what made this country prosperous. His business savvy has reaped him numerous honors by international leaders in agriculture who say he hasn't changed his strategy for success.

He says the secret to success is the willingness to work, reinvest and never sell out.

"It isn't luck," Simplot said. "It is the ability to do it I guess and that's about the story. Still making more money every year than I ever thought I could imagine."

And his imagination fed an entire country and grew a food processing and computer chip manufacturing empire that continues to grow year after year.

"I been here damn near a hundred years and I know where we come from."

And J.R. Simplot has taken Idahoans along for the ride...and what an amazing ride it has been.

Funeral arrangements for J.R. Simplot have been announced. Arrangements will be held June 1 at Qwest Arena at 2 p.m. in Boise.