David Oddsson, Iceland's longest-serving prime minister who oversaw the central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, has died at age 78. Oddsson died Sunday at his Reykjavik home, according to Morgunbladid, where he served as editor-in-chief. No cause of death was provided.

Oddsson served as Iceland's central bank governor during the global financial crisis that crashed the North Atlantic nation's economy after its over-indebted banks collapsed. His tenure drew criticism for granting a €500 million loan to Kaupthing Bank that nearly depleted Iceland's currency reserves before the bank went insolvent. Iceland's biggest banks defaulted on $85 billion in 2008, plunging the then-$13 billion economy into its worst recession in over six decades.

As prime minister from 1991 to 2004, Oddsson privatized Iceland's banks in the 1990s and pushed through other economic reforms including making fishing quotas transferable. He led Iceland into the European Economic Area in 1994 but opposed EU membership and defended the krona. Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir, current Independence Party leader, wrote that Oddsson 'sculpted Icelandic politics, economy and national debate for decades' and served during what many consider the Republic's heyday.