ESPN co-founder Bill Rasmussen dies at 93 from Parkinson's disease

Bill Rasmussen, who co-founded ESPN in 1979, died Tuesday. He was 93. 

Rasmussen died at his home in Florida from the effects of Parkinson's disease, according to ESPN historian Mike Soltys. Rasmussen had announced in 2019 that he'd been diagnosed with the disease in 2014, the Associated Press reported.

In a statement, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro called Rasmussen a "visionary and an innovator who conceived of the idea of a network" focused exclusively on sports. 

“Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s — key aspects of our company culture that still carry on to this day," Pitaro said.