Joe Paterno has died at the age of 85 after experiencing serious complications from lung-cancer treatment.
The health of Paterno, who had fought the disease for two months, had grown progressively worse after he recently broke his pelvis in a fall at his home in State College, Pa.
The family announced his death Sunday shortly after 10 a.m. ET., The Associated Press reported.
Paterno died at State College’s Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he had been undergoing treatment.
Paterno remained connected to a ventilator into Sunday, individuals close to Paterno’s family told The Washington Post.
The newspaper reported the family had communicated to the hospital his wishes not to be kept alive through extreme artificial means.
Paterno’s cancer diagnosis was revealed Nov. 18, nine days after he lost his Penn State head coaching job in the fallout of sexual abuse charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
Jay Paterno, one of Paterno’s sons, thanked fans for their support Saturday.
“I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight,” Jay Paterno wrote on his own Twitter account.
Paterno won two national championships and a Division I-record 409 games over 46 seasons at Penn State and the family has donated millions of dollars to the school.
But his legacy was clouded in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has resulted in 52 counts of child molestation against Sandusky. Paterno had announced his retirement early on Nov. 9, but the Penn State board of trustees fired him and university president Graham Spanier about 12 hours later. That day, Paterno called the scandal “one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
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