BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Tom Coughlin, a legendary retailing executive and former vice chairman of Walmart, died April 1 at the age of 66.

According to a ­Reuters report, Coughlin had been in the intensive care unit of a hospital for several days.

Tom Coughlin

Coughlin began his Walmart career in 1978 in the retailer’s security department. He became a protégé of founder Sam Walton and rose through the management ranks to hold several senior executive positions, becoming a key leader during the years of Walmart’s phenomenal growth in the 1980s and 1990s.

In an email to company executives, president and chief executive officer Doug McMillon paid tribute to Coughlin’s contribution. “Like me, many of you worked with Tom over his more than 26 years with the company,” he wrote. “I know firsthand how much he loved our associates and this company.”

Coughlin was fabled for his ability to relate to associates and motivate them, inspiring extraordinary loyalty in the process. Typically he would visit around 500 stores and clubs a year — an average of eight to 10 every week.

“What you see and what the associates tell you is the fuel that makes Walmart work,” he said in a 2003 interview. “My job is to harness that energy. To do so, I make certain I’m exposed to the associates, that I listen, that I’m involved.”

Coughlin’s Walmart career ended on a negative note with his resignation in 2005 following accusations he had misappropriated funds through fraudulent reimbursements and improper use of gift cards. He ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion charges and was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement due to a variety of ailments that included heart disease and ­diabetes.

Despite that, Coughlin continued to be viewed as a keeper of Walmart’s early legacy, and some reports assert that Walmart executives continued to visit him and solicit his advice when he maintained a consultancy after leaving the company.

“Tom Coughlin has achieved one of the most successful business careers that anyone could imagine, and he is a great example of what a person can accomplish in the retail field,” Lee Scott, then Walmart’s president and CEO, said in late 2004. “I have seen firsthand the significant difference that Tom has made at Walmart.”