Former American International Group Inc. President and CEO Robert H. Benmosche, who had battled cancer for five years, died Friday in New York. He was 70.

In a statement, AIG said Mr. Benmosche, who had undergone treatment for lung cancer since 2010, died at New York University's Langone Medical Center.

Head of AIG from 2009 to 2014, he won plaudits for restoring the insurer to sound financial footing after it nearly collapsed in 2008 and was bailed out with more than $180 billion in federal assistance. He succeeded Edward Liddy, a retired CEO of Allstate Corp. who was tapped by the U.S. Treasury Department in September 2008 to lead AIG back from the brink of bankruptcy due in large part to non-insurance-related financial activities.

Under Mr. Benmosche, AIG continued an aggressive program to raise capital to repay the federal assistance by divesting noncore business. AIG completed its repayment in 2012.

“I am very sad to learn of the passing of Bob Benmosche. He was a very good friend, and we knew each other for many years,” former AIG head Maurice R. Greenberg, now chairman and CEO of Starr Cos., said in a statement. “I knew ... Bob would do an outstanding job” as head of AIG, “and that he would be effective in saving AIG. That outcome speaks for itself.”

Mr. Benmosche, a former chairman, president and CEO of MetLife Inc., stepped down last year. Peter D. Hancock, who had headed AIG's property/casualty business, was named his successor. Mr. Benmosche “poured his energy and focus into enabling AIG's people to live up to their potential, and that's why this company today is a sustainable enterprise that understands the importance of meeting and exceeding the expectations (of) all of our stakeholders,” Mr. Hancock said in the statement.

“Bob was one of the most inspirational and successful leaders in corporate America by any measure,” AIG Chairman Robert S. Miller said in the statement. “We will never forget that under Bob's extraordinary leadership, the people of AIG repaid America in full plus a profit of nearly $23 billion ... He will be deeply missed.”