By Brennen Jensen

Millard Fuller, founder and former long-time leader of Habitat for Humanity International, the house-building charity, died early Tuesday morning. He was 74. Since 2005 Mr. Fuller has lead the Fuller Center for Housing, a housing charity he launched in Americus, Ga., following a somewhat contentious departure from Habitat for Humanity.

The cause of death is not known and an autopsy is to be performed today.

“He got a pretty severe chest cold a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t shake it,” says Holly Chapman, the Fuller Center’s vice president of communications and development “He took a turn for the worse last night and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.”

“Millard Fuller was a force of nature who turned a simple idea into an international organization that has helped more than 300,000 families move from deplorable housing into simple, decent homes they helped build and can afford to buy and live in,” said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive of Habitat for Humanity International, in a statement. “The entire Habitat family mourns the loss of our founder, a true giant in the affordable housing movement.”

Mr. Fuller was a millionaire entrepreneur in 1976 when he gave away his wealth and left the business world to start Habitat for Humanity. He and his wife, Linda, oversaw the charity’s growth and expansion from rural Georgia into a global enterprise that has helped house more than a million people.

Last year Habitat raised more money than all but 13 other organizations in the United States, according to The Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 400 ranking of America’s most-successful fund-raising charities.

Four years ago, Mr. Fuller was fired by the Habitat for Humanity board following a yearlong investigation into accusations that he had had inappropriate contact with a female staff member. Mr. Fuller denied any wrongdoing, calling the board’s action’s “draconian” and “outrageous” in a 2005 interview with The Chronicle. (He also talked about the episode in an article The Chronicle published last year about how executives can deal with challenges from their boards.)

The Fuller Center for Housing, which he started following his ouster from Habitat to continue his housing work, now has affiliates in 41American cities and more than 15 countries. The center’s board will meet next week to discuss Mr. Fuller’s replacement as president.

“Millard would want us to continue working and that’s what we intend to do,” Ms. Chapman says. “His vision was to eliminate poverty housing for every single person in the world.”