Nov 14, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss attends the NCAA basketball game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Southern California Trojans at the Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

After bring hospitalized for months with an intestinal problem, Los Angeles sports magnate Jerry Buss has passed away. He was 80 years old.

While he will always be most notorious for vastly successful ownership of the NBA‘s Los Angeles Lakers, Buss also owned the WNBA‘s Los Angeles Sparks, the Los Angeles Strings of the long-forgotten World Team Tennis, The Forum in Inglewood and for a brief period, the NHL‘s Los Angeles Kings.

A USC graduate, Jerry Buss bought the Kings, Lakers and The Forum from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979 and while his tenure with the Kings only lasted a few years, Buss’s retained ownership of the Lakers with whom he won ten NBA championships with. Buss even won a pair of championships with WNBA’s Sparks.

It is truly a sad day not only in Los Angeles but in the sports world overall. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Buss family.