Rathmann was Amgen's first chief executive, from 1980 to 1988, and board chairman until 1990.
One of Rathmann's chief accomplishments was finding the funds Amgen needed during its start-up years, while he also guided the company through its first public offering, California-based Amgen said.
"George Rathmann was a biotechnology giant and we were privileged to have him as our first CEO," Chief Executive Kevin Sharer said in the statement.
Recently, Amgen and British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc announced a major collaboration deal to jointly develop and sell five biotech drugs currently in Amgen's developmental pipeline.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
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