SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A WWE star who made his mark in the Bay Area has died at the age of 79.
WWE made the announcement of Pat Patterson’s death on Wednesday morning.
Patterson was a trailblazer from Canada who became “a fixture in the Bay Area for nearly two decades,” after starting his career in 1958, according to WWE. Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996.
He also came out as gay in 2014 and wrote a book about it: “Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE.”
Once he was done wrestling, Patterson took over as a color commentator, joining Vince McMahon as an executive. One of his legacies includes pitching the Royal Rumble — “one of the ring’s most groundbreaking ideas,” the WWE said.
See a Pat Patterson photo gallery by WWE here.
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