Tommy,
Complications from diabetes, he was 71. He was already starting to lose the feel in his hands and feet from neuropathy.
When we played in the fall, he would carry one of those butane hand warmers with him, "helped his putting" he said.
Interestingly enough he took the Pizza job to fill his evenings after his wife had passed only 6 months after he had retired or I never would have met him. He was a career fire fighter and one of those "salt of the earth" instantly likeable people that are oh so rare. He was so sincere and self effacing that it took quite awhile to figure out that he really wasn't putting you on, yet he still had a good sense of humor.
I took him to Myopia once and we parked in that little upper lot by the stables. He took one look at the horses being groomed and led out for exercise, the stately old clubhouse, and he wouldn't get out of the car until I produced our host who assured him that he was indeed a legitimate guest for the day. Some where on the front nine we saw one of the grounds crew guys driving one of those utility carts and I looked at him and said, " Oh Jesus, we're in trouble now, here comes the superintendent to throw us out!" Well, he turned white and started dancing around like a boxer ducking hooks, he didn't know which way to go, I thought our host was going to get a hernia he laughed so hard. It was hilarious, and after he calmed down he laughed right along with us, just a great guy. He loved the stories about Leeds putting the bed sheets down to add bunkers to the landing areas after the early opens up there.
I met a lot of his friends too, and they eventually let me fill in if they had a no show on Tuesday nights, I was honored, and had an absolute blast every time.