BERLIN — German auto industry power broker Ferdinand Piech, the longtime patriarch of Volkswagen AG and the key engineer of its takeover of Porsche, has died, his widow confirmed Monday. He was 82.

His wife, Ursula Piech, told the dpa news agency in a statement provided by their family lawyer that her husband died Sunday “suddenly and unexpectedly” but did not give a specific cause.

“Ferdinand Piech’s life was marked by his passion for the automobile and for the workers who built them,” she wrote. “He was an enthusiastic engineer and car lover until the end.”

Piech — a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the company that bears his name and designed the first version of VW’s signature Beetle — was an auto industry mainstay for more than four decades.