Fuel cell pioneer Geoffrey Ballard has passed away at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, Canada.

Ballard was the founder of Ballard Power Systems, which he hoped would "herald the birth of the hydrogen economy".

Ballard Power Systems has been instrumental in the development of hydrogen fuel cell systems for cars and buses, which are meant to be a quiet, energy-efficient alternative to fossil fuel-powered engines.

According to the Washington Post, Geoffrey Ballard risked bankruptcy and his professional reputation to get the internal combustion engine off the streets and its smog out of the skies.

"He knew alternative energy could work - he had a doctorate in geophysics and had been the head of a federal energy conservation office in the early 1970s. Without outside backers, he cashed in his pension and, for $2,000, bought a run-down Arizona motel to use as a laboratory. He first tried to make a high-energy lithium battery, a research project that put him in bankruptcy," according to an obituary in the Post.

The Burnaby-based company that Ballard founded has been leading the way in the development of hydrogen fuel cell systems since 1983.

In 1993, the world's first hydrogen fuel cell-powered, zero-emission transit bus was introduced at Science World in Vancouver, thanks to Ballard.

While the company continues to make the news with achievements frequently reported by Forkliftaction.com News, poor health forced Ballard to step aside as chairman of Ballard Power Systems in 1998.

Two years later, he formed General Hydrogen Corporation to provide energy-delivery technologies, systems and infrastructures for fuel-cell vehicles and devices.

He has numerous publications and patents to his credit, had been granted honorary degrees from six Canadian universities and was a Member of the Order of Canada.

Scientific American magazine named Ballard Business Leader of the Year in 2002. In 1999, Time magazine hailed Ballard as a "Hero for the Planet".

Despite all the accolades and a reputation as a great intellect, Ballard was a humble man and "very down to earth", according to those who knew him best.