Robert Galvin, the former chief executive of Motorola who led the company as it pioneered the cellular phone, passed away Tuesday night at the age of 89, his family said.

Galvin took over Motorola in 1959, succeeding his father, company founder Paul Galvin. When he assumed the CEO role, Motorola's annual sales were $290 million. By the time Galvin stepped down as chairman in 1990, Motorola was a global company with $10.8 billion in annual sales. Galvin oversaw a number of major milestones on the way to creating the cell phone industry. Motorola introduced the DynaTAC, the first portable c