Shu Uemura, the celebrated Japanese makeup artist and founder of the Shu Uemura cosmetics brand sold to L'Oreal in 2003, died of pneumonia Dec. 29. He was 79 and is survived by his wife and a son.

Mr. Uemura started his cosmetic empire in Japan in the 1960s, which became his namesake business in the 1980s. He worked with many celebrities in Hollywood and is known worldwide as a cosmetics pioneer for merging beauty with style.