'Queen' of Macau's gambling empire

• Meet Linda Chen, the 'queen' of Macau casino empire


• Tipped as successor to business magnate Steve Wynn


• Chen to open new multi-billion dollar Wynn Palace


• Has lucky 8888 phone number, apparently present from boss

Editor's note: Leading Women connects you to extraordinary women of our time -- remarkable professionals who have made it to the top in all areas of business, the arts, sport, culture, science and more.

(CNN) -- The 'queen' of Macau's gambling empire is about to unveil a new palace.

The foundations are already being laid for Macau's new multi-billion dollar casino-resort, named -- aptly enough -- Wynn Palace.

It will be the latest jewel in U.S. business magnate Steve Wynn's glittering casino crown, following Las Vegas's premier MGM Grand, Bellagio, and The Mirage.

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And the person to launch it? Forty-seven year old executive director Linda Chen.

Often sighted as a likely successor to billionaire Wynn, Taiwanese-born Chief Operating Officer Chen oversaw the opening of luxury gaming, hotel, and retail complex Wynn Macau, in 2006.

And she's not about to stop there.

Read: The dress that launched an empire

"When we first came to Macau, the scene was more about gaming," Chen told CNN's Kristie Lu Stout. "And the aspiration for Macau, the reason we wanted to be here, is taking it to the next level.

"In Vegas, it's no longer just about gaming. It's about the entertainment. It's where you would consider the best shows in the world, the best shopping, and the best restaurants. It's about the whole experience, and that's what we wanted to do here."

In its first year Wynn Macau quadrupled its annual revenue from $1 billion to $4.5billion, under Chen's stewardship.One of Asia's 50 most powerful businesswomen, according to Forbes, Chen has worked her socks off to become the second in command at Wynn. But could luck also have played a part in her success?

Come 2016, Wynn Macau (pictured) will have a sister casino.

Chen apparently has the number 8888 -- considered lucky in Chinese culture -- for her phone, a present from her wealthy boss.

Luck or no luck, gaming was not the direction Chen or her parents saw her career going, when she graduated from New York's Cornell University in 1989.

"It was the end of the world for them," she says with a laugh.

"For Chinese parents coming from Taiwan, they never knew anybody else who worked in the casino industry. They never thought somebody would live outside the casinos in Las Vegas. So it took a while, but eventually they were supportive."

Stepping out of her private jet, Chen appears every inch the high-flying business superstar. But when asked about one day succeeding Wynn himself, she is a little reticent.

"Mr Wynn's very young, he is not ready to retire soon," Chen says with a smile. "I hope he works for another 30, 40 years -- and I'll be alongside with him."

Inspire: First class style with Tory Burch

Debate: Can successful women have it all?

Rat causes black out in Madrid

Over 12,000 residents were left without power in the Madrid northern suburb of El Pilar on Wednesday after a short circuit in an outside transformer was caused by a rat.

According to the Spanish electronic company, Iberdrola, the rat got into the transformer through a tiny hole and began chewing the wires which triggered a fire. The incident took place around 2.15pm as locals would have been preparing lunch.

The blaze cut the power and took firefighters only an hour to put out, due to the fire’s low intensity. Iberdrola then got to work and replaced the damaged wires. Within several minutes, seven out of 10 homes had power again, with the rest getting access after an hour.

It isn’t the first famous case of a rodent causing this sort of disturbance. Similar cases have occurred in Sweden, due to beavers, and in Japan’s infamous Fukushima nuclear plant.

ANECPLA, a pest control association based in the Spanish capital, have explained that there has been a sharp increase in the rat population of Madrid due to the mass closure of buildings and businesses, especially in industrial centres, due to the economic crisis.

HIV detected in 'cured' baby

• Mississippi baby "cured" of HIV is now showing signs of the virus


• Baby was given high doses of three antiretroviral drugs shortly after birth


• Baby born with HIV in California was given the same treatment

(CNN) -- A Mississippi baby scientists said was "functionally cured" of HIV now has detectable levels of the virus in her blood, 27 months after being taken off antiretroviral drugs, her doctors say.

"Certainly, this is a disappointing turn of events for this young child, the medical staff involved in the child's care, and the HIV/AIDS research community," NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a statement. "Scientifically, this development reminds us that we still have much more to learn about the intricacies of HIV infection and where the virus hides in the body."

A day after delivery, the Mississippi baby was given high doses of three antiretroviral drugs. More than three years later, doctors said the little girl had no evidence of the life-threatening disease in her blood, despite being off medication.

The child was born to a mother who received no prenatal care and was not diagnosed as HIV-positive herself until just before delivery, according to a case report published in November 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers: Toddler cured of HIV

"We didn't have the opportunity to treat the mom during the pregnancy as we would like to be able to do, to prevent transmission to the baby," Dr. Hannah Gay, a pediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said at the time.

Doctors administered antiretroviral drugs 30 hours after the girl was born in hopes of controlling the virus, in case she was infected. The virus was not detectable at the time. The child remained on antiretroviral drugs for approximately 18 months. Her mother then stopped administering the drugs for some reason, Gay said.

In March 2013, researchers announced that the girl was the first child to be "functionally cured" of HIV. A "functional cure" is when the presence of the virus is so small, lifelong treatment is not necessary and standard clinical tests cannot detect the virus in the blood.

However, during a routine doctor visit earlier this month, tests detected the virus that causes AIDS in the now 4-year-old child. Her T-cell count was also low, indicating a weakened immune system. Doctors started her again on antiretroviral therapy. She will need to be on these medications for life -- or until scientists find a cure for HIV.

"It felt like a punch to the gut," Gay said. "It was extremely disappointing from both the scientific standpoint ... but mainly for the sake of the child who is back on medicine and expected to stay on medicine for a very long time."

Despite the setback, researchers are optimistic about using this early treatment method on infants infected with HIV. A clinical trial aimed at studying the effect will be amended to include this new information, they said, before it begins recruiting participants.

Current treatment methods

Researchers have long known that treating HIV-positive mothers while they are pregnant is important for the health of the child, because they pass antibodies on to their babies that can protect them from disease.

All HIV-positive moms will pass on those antibodies, but only 30% will transmit the actual virus, said Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts who worked closely with Gay. And HIV-positive mothers who are given appropriate treatment pass on the virus in less than 2% of cases.

"So all babies are born antibody-positive, but only a fraction of babies born to HIV-positive women will actually get the virus, and that fraction depends on whether the mom and baby are getting antiviral prophylaxis (preventive treatment) or not."

Newborns are considered high-risk if their mothers' HIV infections are not under control or if the mothers are found to be HIV-positive when they're close to delivering.

Usually, these infants would get antiviral drugs at preventive doses for six weeks to prevent infection, then start antiretroviral therapy, or ART, if HIV is diagnosed.

ART is a combination of at least three drugs used to suppress the virus and stop the progression of the disease.

But they do not kill the virus.

In March, doctors announced that another child born with HIV appeared to be free of the virus after receiving similar treatment to the Mississippi baby. The case report was presented at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston.

The girl was delivered at Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach, California, last summer to a mother with HIV who had not received antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. Doctors gave the baby high doses of three drugs -- AZT, 3TC and Nevirapine -- four hours after birth. Eleven days later, the virus was undetectable in her body and remained undetectable eight months later.

"Taking kids off antiretroviral therapy intentionally is not standard of care," said Dr. Deborah Persaud at the time, a virologist with Johns Hopkins Children's Center who has been involved in both cases.

On Thursday Persaud said the California baby is still on antiretroviral treatment and doing well, said Persaud.

"At this time, there is no plan to stop treatment."

Measles virus used to put woman's cancer into remission

CNN's Miriam Falco and Saarik Gupta contributed to this story.

Inside militants' secret tunnels

Pakistan army troops drop down into a the basement of a compound they believe was used by militants in a town in North Waziristan, where a massive ground offensive by the military has been taking place.

Miranshah, one of the largest towns in the region, which borders Afghanistan, has been left a ghost town by the military operation.

The military displays ammunition recovered by militants in Miranshah.

According to the Pakistan military, various militant groups have been based in the area planning their operations and stockpiling weapons.

Miranshah has been left looking like a street in war-torn Syria. At least 500,000 people have been displaced by the army's campaign.

Thousands of Pakistan troops poured into the region following a massive air bombardment.

The military claims more than 400 militants have been killed during their three-week offensive.

The military put a staggering array of captured weapons, such as these heavy machine guns, on display in the center of Miranshah.

The army claims pamphlets and papers captured in a compound in the town indicate it was being used by al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters.

The military claims to have driven most of the fighters out of the area.

A Pakistan army tank rolls into the streets of Miranshah.

A soldier inspects the inside of a compound in Miranshah, which the army believes was used by militant fighters.

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• Miranshah remains empty after Pakistan military operation in North Waziristan


• The region had become "a hub and safe haven" for militants, says army commander


• North Waziristan pummeled by air strikes before ground troops moved in


• New militant group claims several parts of Waziristan are under its control

Miranshah, Pakistan (CNN) -- In a tea shop in Miranshah, a dusty town in northeastern Pakistan, an empty kettle hangs on a hook waiting to be used, while flies hover over baskets piled high with sweetmeats drying out in the July sunshine.

The surrounding streets are unusually quiet -- no children playing, no old men selling fruit, no whir of machinery from local workshops. The buzz of life has been replaced by deathly silence in the largest town in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan. Much of it now lies in ruin, its population nowhere to be seen.

In a rare visit organized by Pakistan's military, I was one of the few journalists transported into the region where the army has been waging a full-scale ground offensive against militants since mid-June. The operation has been named Zarb-e-Azb after a famous sword of the prophet Muhammad.

READ: Major Pakistan offensive aims to 'finish off' militants

Maj. General Zafar Khan, the commander of the Pakistan army's 7th Division and the man in charge of the operation, told CNN that in the months leading up to campaign, the region had become "a hub and safe haven" for militants -- foreign and local -- in Pakistan.

For almost three weeks, North Waziristan, a mountainous region bordering Afghanistan, was pummeled by a series of air strikes before ground troops moved in. According to Khan, 80% of Miranshah and its surrounding areas have been cleared of militants. Unfortunately, the local population appears to have been cleared too.

The head of Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Maj. General Asim Bajwa, guides us through various compounds recovered in the town, which is now back under military control. Leaving the 7th division base, we're driven through a land of beige, past villages such as Machis, which has been hit by drone strikes and now lies abandoned. Soldiers stand guard outside a suspected al Qaeda compound near the village. According to Bajwa, recovered pamphlets and papers indicate it was used by fighters affiliated with the terror network.

We're led down a series of steep steps inside the compound, and we find ourselves in a cold, labyrinth of tunnels, with only the dim light from our torches to guide us. Bajwa tells us the tunnels "go on for at least two kilometers." It's a formidable operating base for militants.

The drive to the town proper is surreal: vintage film music plays as the soldiers accompanying us discuss the Germany-Brazil World Cup match the previous night. Outside our windows, we see troops searching blast-damaged and hollowed-out buildings. We're told not to stray from the group since the area has not been completely cleared of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- the signature bomb of militants in the region.

According to Maj. General Khan, at least 23 tons of IED-making equipment has been recovered from Miranshah.

Dust storm offers refuge in Pakistan

Pakistan takes on Taliban militants

In the courtyard of a house in the battered remains of the town's bazaar, guns and ammunition have been displayed in abstract designs, bullets placed in macabre symmetry. Military officials tell us that this was the compound used by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement -- a murky terror group blamed for attacks in other countries in the wider region such as China. We're shown the in-house dental clinic that they had established for themselves. Alleged terrorists get toothaches, too, it would seem.

A mosque provides the front for another underground hideout; a series of steps lead up to a bookshelf that opens up like a door into a secret passageway that we're told was used as an escape route.

It seems that no one was captured. Maj. General Khan says leaders of other groups such as the Pakistan Taliban fled into Afghanistan before the ground operation began. "They now manage things from across the border," he says.

Military sources say over 400 militants have been killed in this operation, but information about which groups they are affiliated with is vague. Meanwhile, the number of internally displaced people from North Waziristan has now reached over 876,000, according to figures released by the FATA Disaster Management Authority, Pakistan's federal government organization that administers the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Despite the access, details about the captured militants seem opaque. As we're leaving North Waziristan, we find that a new militant group called Lashkar-e-Saif has declared its existence, claiming that the regions of "Spinwam, Dosalli, Razmak, Dattakheil, Shawal, Shava and other parts of Waziristan are under the full control of Taliban while security forces are only controlling Mirali Bazaar and Miranshah Bazaar."

The military denies the existence of any such group. "We will never let militants return to North Waziristan," Khan tells the press in this valley in the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountains. Yet the very next day, Abidullah Abid, the spokesperson of the shadowy Lashkar-e-Saif claims they "will welcome security forces with bullets in Waziristan."

This month of alleged gains by the Pakistani Army, it would seem is only the beginning for operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Journalist Saleem Mehsud contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Founder of modeling agency dies

Click through to see people who passed away in 2014.

Eileen Ford, who founded the Ford Model Agency 70 years ago, died Wednesday, July 9, at the age of 92, the company said.

Richard Percy Jones, the actor who gave Pinocchio his voice in the 1940 Disney movie, died at his California home on Monday, July 8. He was 87.

Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini, the subject of the book and upcoming film "Unbroken," died July 2 after a recent battle with pneumonia. The 97-year-old peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, according to a statement.

Walter Dean Myers, a beloved author of children's books, died on July 1 following a brief illness, according to the Children's Book Council.

Paul Mazursky, a five-time Oscar nominee who directed and wrote such films as "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," "An Unmarried Woman" and "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," died at the age of 84, his agent said July 1.

Actor Meshach Taylor died June 28 at his Los Angeles-area home, his agent, Dede Binder, said. He was 67. Taylor had fought a terminal illness and faded markedly in recent days, Binder said. His wife, children, grandchildren and mother surrounded him as he passed away.

Legendary soul singer Bobby Womack died June 27, according to Womack's publicist. He was 70.

Character actor Eli Wallach, seen here in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," died on June 24, according to a family member who did not want to be named. Wallach was 98.

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died June 16 at the age of 54, according to a release from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Gwynn, who had 3,141 hits in 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, had cancer.

Radio personality Casey Kasem died June 15. He was 82 and had been hospitalized in Washington state for two weeks.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll died June 13. He had suffered from Alzheimer's and heart disease. He was 82.

Ruby Dee, an award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, died June 12. She was 91.

Former baseball star Bob Welch passed away on June 9 after suffering a heart attack, according to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was 57.

British actor and comedian Rik Mayall, who appeared in the TV series "Blackadder," died June 9 at the age of 56, his agent said. The cause of death was not immediately reported.

Chester Nez, the last of the original Navajo code talkers credited with creating an unbreakable code used during World War II, died June 5 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation President said. Nez was 93.

Ann B. Davis, who played Alice the maid on "The Brady Bunch," died from a subdural hematoma on June 1. She was 88.

Maya Angelou, a renowned poet, novelist and actress, died at the age of 86, her literary agent said on May 28. Angelou was also a professor, singer and dancer whose work spanned several generations.

Australian racing legend Jack Brabham died on May 19, according to Brabham's son David. Brabham, 88, was a three-time Formula One world champion.

Malik Bendjelloul, the Oscar-winning director of "Searching for Sugar Man," died suddenly on May 13, police said. He was 36.

H.R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist whose works of sexual-industrial imagery and design of the eponymous creature in the "Alien" movies were known around the world, died on May 12. He was 74.

Former professional tennis player Elena Baltacha died at the age of 30 after losing her battle with liver cancer on May 4. Before retiring in November, she had reached a career high of 49th in the world rankings.

Al Feldstein, who guided Mad magazine for almost three decades as its editor, died on April 29, according to a Montana funeral home. He was 88.

Oscar-nominated British actor Bob Hoskins, known for roles in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa," died April 29 at age 71, his publicist said.

Hall of Fame basketball coach John "Dr. Jack" Ramsay, who became a television analyst years after winning a league championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, died on April 28, according to his longtime employer ESPN. Ramsay was 89.

Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova, who had been battling cancer, died at the age of 45, the club announced April 25.

Country singer Kevin Sharp died from "complications due to cancer" on April 19, his mother told CNN. He was 43.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the middleweight boxing contender who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the 1960s, died April 20 at the age of 76, according to Win Wahrer, the director of client services for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the influential, Nobel Prize-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," passed away on April 17, his family and officials said. He was 87.

Jose Luis "Cheo" Feliciano, a giant of salsa music and a Puerto Rican legend, died in a car crash April 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to police. He was 78.

Days after being inducted into World Wrestling Entertainment's Hall of Fame, WWE superstar Ultimate Warrior died April 8. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. He was 54.

Comedian John Pinette, 50, was found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room on April 5. Pinette died of natural causes stemming from "a medical history he was being treated for," the medical examiner's spokesman said. An autopsy will not be done because his personal doctor signed the death certificate.

Mickey Rooney, who started as a child star in vaudeville and went on to star in hundreds of movies and TV shows, died April 6 at the age of 93.

DJ Frankie Knuckles, a legendary producer, remixer and house music pioneer, died March 31 at the age of 59.

Kate O'Mara, the British actress best known for playing Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s show "Dynasty," died March 30. She was 74.

Ralph C. Wilson Jr., the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, died at age 95, the team announced March 25.

Gwar lead singer Dave Brockie died March 23 at the age of 50, his manager said. The heavy-metal group formed in 1984, billing itself as "Earth's only openly extraterrestrial rock band." Brockie performed in the persona of Oderus Urungus.

James Rebhorn, whose acting resume includes a long list of character roles in major films and TV shows, died March 21, his representative said. Rebhorn was 65.

L'Wren Scott, a noted fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger, was found dead of an apparent suicide March 17, according to a law enforcement official. She was 49.

Drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded and played drums for the influential proto-punk band The Stooges, died March 15. He was 64.

Comedian David Brenner, a regular on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died after a battle with cancer, a family spokesman said March 15. He was 78.

Actress Sheila MacRae, who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of "The Honeymooners" on "The Jackie Gleason Show," died on March 6, according to her family. She was 92.

Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, seen here in 2006, died February 25 of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. De Lucia transformed the folk art of flamenco music into a more vibrant modern sound.

Actor, writer and director Harold Ramis, seen here on the far left with fellow "Ghostbusters" Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, died at his Chicago-area home on February 24. He was 69. Other popular Ramis films include "Stripes," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This."

Maria von Trapp, seen here posing with a photo of her family, was the last of the singing siblings immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music." She died February 18 of natural causes at her Vermont home, according to her family. She was 99.

Journalist Garrick Utley died at age 74 following a long battle with cancer, his wife of 40 years said in February. Utley worked for CNN after his 30-year career at NBC News.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale, known by fans as "Bob 2," died February 17, his brother and band mate announced. Casale was 61.

John Henson, the son of Jim Henson who is perhaps most notable for his portrayal of Sweetums on "The Muppets," died after a "sudden, massive heart attack," his family's company said on February 15.

Veteran actor Ralph Waite died at 85 on February 13, according to an accountant for the Waite family and a church where the actor was a regular member. Waite was best known for his role as John Walton Sr. on 'The Waltons."

Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," died on February 12. He was 91.

Hollywood child star Shirley Temple, who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85.

Joan Mondale, the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church.

Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2.

Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg."

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94.

Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95.

Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known.

Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91.

Russell Johnson, center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89.

Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85.

Franklin McCain, seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University.

Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74.

Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79.

Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said.

Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86.

Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica.

Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98.

Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74.

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• Eileen Ford died of complications from meningioma and osteoporosis, her daughter says


• She and her husband founded Ford Models in New York in 1946


• Ford modernized the modeling, leading to the evolution of supermodels


• Ford was "an industry icon and pioneer," the company she founded says

(CNN) -- Eileen Ford, who founded Ford Model Agency 70 years ago, has died at age 92, the company said.

Ford, who lived in Califon, New Jersey, died Wednesday of complications from meningioma and osteoporosis, according to daughter Katie Ford.

Ford and her husband, Jerry, helped modernize the modeling industry when they began their now-iconic business in in New York in 1946.

A statement from the agency called her "an industry icon and pioneer" whose "contributions to the modeling and fashion industries are unmatched."

"Eileen Ford was an indomitable force who not only defined Ford Models, but the world of modeling itself," a statement on the agency's website said. "The myriad ways Eileen affected the world of fashion and the public perception of beauty are ineffable."

Ford helped modernize the modeling, leading to the evolution of supermodels in the fashion industry.

Eileen Ford launched the careers of Candice Bergen, Lauren Hutton and Jane Fonda, among others.

Ford Model grew into "one of the world's most prestigious agencies" because of her "her unwavering passion, curiosity and drive," the company said.

A quote from Ford accompanied the death announcement: "You never know when or where you will find the next new model, but you can bet someone from Ford Models will be looking."

Ford Models has branches in New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.

People we've lost in 2014

CNN's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.