Buffalo Bills founder and owner Ralph Wilson Jr. has died at the age of 95, team president & CEO Russ Brandon announced Tuesday during NFL meetings in Orlando, FL.
Wilson was one of the original founders in the American Football League and played a major role in making what football is today. Under his watch the Bills were lead to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the 1990s, although they didn’t win a single one.
“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. “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.”
“Mr. Wilson had a relentless passion, a deep love for his Buffalo Bills, the City of Buffalo and the National Football League,” Brandon added. “He also loved the Bills fans and all of the people of Western New York who embraced the Bills.
“This incredible man was the personification of the Buffalo Bills. His life was grit, determination and resolve. He was bigger than life in many ways and yet he was the everyday man, driving his Ford Taurus to the local store and greeting everyone as they called out ‘hi Ralph!’ He will be greatly missed by those in our community whose lives he touched.”
Wilson will be forever immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which he was inducted into in 2009.
