(CNN) — Ralph Wilson Jr. — the founder and longtime beloved owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills — has died at age 95, his team announced Tuesday.
In addition to bringing and keeping the Bills in western New York, Wilson was among the co-founders of the American Football League, which would later become half of what’s now the National Football League.
Those efforts and his stewardship of the Buffalo franchise helped earn Wilson entry in 2009 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We are all suffering a deep and profound sadness with the passing of our Hall of Fame owner Mr. Wilson,” Russ Brandon, the Bills CEO and president, said in a statement. “We have lost our founder, our mentor, our friend.”
