Barron Hilton, hotelier and founder of the Chargers NFL team, dies at the age of 91

Barron Hilton, the hotel and philanthropist who chaired the Hilton hotel chain, died Thursday in Los Angeles for natural causes at the age of 91, it was announced Friday.

Hilton took over Hilton Hotels Corporation as president and CEO in 1966 after succeeding his father, Conrad Hilton, who founded the hotel empire. Barron Hilton was also one of the founders of the now-Los Angeles Chargers NFL football team.

Hilton Hotels said in a statement that "today, the world of hospitality is one of the greats."

"Barron Hilton was an incredible family man, business leader and philanthropist. From his leadership of our company for more than three decades, to the transformative work he led with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for many years, Barron was a man unlike someone else, "Hilton Hotels' current president and CEO Christopher J. Nassetta said in a statement.

" I have always found inspiration in how he saw the huge potential of hospitality to change the world to it better ̵[ads1]1; and in the unique and meaningful ways he sought to make it happen, "Nassetta said.

Hilton retired in 1996, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation said in a obituary, and in 2007 he announced that he was committed 97 percent of their wealth for philanthropic work through the Hilton Foundati, which is expected to increase the foundation's funeral from $ 2.9 billion to $ 6.3 billion, said the foundation.

Hilton was born in Dallas in 1927, h An served in the Navy, and he was an entrepreneur for 20 years before being invited by his father to join the hotel company to become vice president in 1954, according to the foundation.

Hilton's wife, Marilyn, died in 2004 and is survived by eight children, 15 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, the foundation says. [19659002] His grandson Paris Hilton, the heiress, actress and reality TV star, tweeted Friday that she recently told him what impact he had on her life, calling him her mentor. "He was a legend, a visionary, brilliant, handsome, kind and lived a life full of achievements and adventures," she wrote. Ever since I was a little girl I have looked up to him as a businessman. "

Dean Spanos, owner of the Chargers football team, in a statement, Hilton named a pioneering leader and philanthropist who is directly responsible for the team's existence today.

"A founding father and charter member of the upstart AFL's sarcastic self-dressed & # 39; Foolish Club & # 39 ;, Barron was a pioneering leader, risk-taking entrepreneur, productive philanthropist, devoted family man and, of course, anything but foolish, "Spanos said, referring to the former American Football League, which would eventually become today's NFL American Football C

" Without Barron, there would be no Chargers ," so Spanos, and he said his family and the entire Chargers organization expressed their gratitude and compassion to the Hilton family.

The Chargers played in Los Angeles in 1960 but moved to San Diego next year, and Hilton sold the team in 1966, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Spanos in early 2017 moved the team back to Los Angeles.