Bills owner Ralph Wilson dies at 95
RALPH WILSON, the founder and owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, has died at the age of 95, the team said yesterday.
RALPH WILSON, the founder and owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, has died at the age of 95, the team said yesterday.
Bills president Russ Brandon announced his passing at the NFL Annual Meeting in Florida, saying Wilson died peacefully at his Michigan home his family by his side.
The cause of death not revealed, but Wilson had been in failing health for several years and had not been to a Bills game since 2010.
"I speak for everyone within the Bills organization when I say that we are all suffering a deep and profound sadness with the passing of our Hall of Fame owner Mr. Wilson," Brandon said in a statement released by the Bills.
"We have lost our founder, our mentor, our friend, and this is a very difficult time for us all.
"We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Mary, his daughters Christy and Dee Dee [Edith], his niece Mary and his entire family."
Wilson owned the Bills for 54 years and was the last of the original American Football League owners. The AFL and NFL merged in 1970.
Under his ownership, the Bills won two AFL Championships in the 1960s and reached the Super Bowl 4 years in a row in the early 1990s, but lost each time.