Blackhawks owner William Wirtz dead

EVANSTON, Ill., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- William Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, has died in an Evanston, Ill., hospital at 77.

Wirtz, who served as the team's president for 41 years after taking up the mantle in 1966, died early Wednesday morning at Evanston Hospital following a long battle with cancer.

Wirtz also served an 18-year term as chairman of the NHL's Board of Governors, during which time he presided over the late 1970s merger of the NHL and the World Hockey Association.

He was also a member of the Winter Olympic Committee in 1980 -- when the U.S. took home the gold medal for ice hockey -- and the 1984 committee.

In 1993, he established the Chicago Blackhawk Charities, which has donated millions of dollars to charitable causes in the Chicago area.

Wirtz is survived by his wife, Alice, five children and seven grandchildren.