Alan Boyd, the United States' first Secretary of Transportation and a leading figure in the department's creation, died on Sunday at the age of 98, the New York Times reported. Boyd served as Undersecretary of Commerce under President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 when he created a task force that ultimately led to the establishment of the Department of Transportation. Boyd served as the new department's secretary for the remainder of the Johnson administration, after which he served as president of Illinois Central Railroad and later Amtrak, which he led from 1978 to 1982.