Long-time boxing promoter Gary Shaw has passed away at the age of 79, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced on Thursday.

The New Jersey native had been bed ridden at his home in Florida since suffering a heart attack in January, reports Kevin Iole.

“Boxing has lost a very dear person today. Gary Shaw has passed away. Our condolences go to Judy and the kids. I will always remember Gary with his unique smile, fun character and passion for boxing,” said Sulaiman.

Shaw, who got started in promotions as Chief Operating Officer of Main Events in 1999 before starting his own company, Gary Shaw Productions, had been involved in some of the biggest boxing events of the 2000s, including perhaps the greatest fight of this millennium, the first meeting between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo in 2005. Other major events that Shaw was involved with include Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko, Felix Trinidad vs. Fernando Vargas and Felix Trinidad vs. Ronald “Winky” Wright.

Shaw promoted an impressive roster of Boxing Hall of Famers that includes Manny Pacquiao, Corrales, Wright, Shane Mosley and Tim Bradley.

Before getting involved on the business side, Shaw spent decades behind the scenes as an inspector with the the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, rising to the level of Chief Inspector during his 28-year run with the commission.

Fred Sternburg, the International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee who worked with Shaw during his rise as a promoter, said his background helped prepare him for the difficult realities of boxing promotion.

“I still don’t know if any promoter had the regulatory background that he did, that he brought to the business. He always had a great rapport  with the commissions because he respected what they were doing because he had been in there,” said Sternburg.

“He got my business off the ground, he gave me my first two clients. He referred Winky Wright to me and then he was the second one. I think he wanted to see how I did with Winky before he committed any money to me for himself. For the first few years it was as fun as could be, he had a great sense of humor, he loved boxing, he loved fighters, he loved that whole environment.”

Illustrating Shaw’s sense of humor, Sternburg recalled how Shaw’s wife Judy threw Gary a surprise party for his 60th birthday. Sternburg couldn’t make it, so he sent a birthday present in his absence.

“I had Everlast make him one of those fighter robes and on the back it said ‘Raging Bullshit.’ He loved it, he wore it the whole night at the party. He could be the life of the party, he was fun,” said Sternburg, who characterizes Shaw as someone more comfortable at a diner than at a fancy restaurant.

Sharmba Mitchell, the former WBA junior welterweight titleholder from Washington D.C., credits Shaw with helping resurrect his career following his 2001 loss to Kostya Tszyu in their first fight. Shaw promoted Mitchell and kept him active on the Showtime network, rebuilding him and getting him to the interim IBF junior welterweight title.

“He was one of the best promoters I’ve dealt with. We dealt with each other on  a handshake. Great guy, he did exactly what he said he was gonna do, and I did exactly what I said I would do, and that’s the relationship we had,” said Mitchell.

“He was always real with me, we could talk about any and everything. Just a great person, a person I could always reach out to whenever I needed him. He wasn’t one of those standoff guys who thought he was bigger than anyone else.”

Among his other contributions to boxing was creating the initial concept for ShoBox: The New Generation, a series which aired on Showtime that served as a bridge for prospects to develop into contenders and champions.

Shaw also worked in mixed martial arts through EliteXC, which operated from February of 2007 through October 2008, and served as a launching pad for Cris Cyborg and Kimbo Slice.

Shaw’s last event was in June of 2015, when he promoted the Miguel Cotto vs. Daniel Geale WBC middleweight title fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].