DETROIT — Gordie Howe, the rough and tumble Canadian farm boy whose boundless blend of talent and toughness made him the NHL’s quintessential star during a career that lasted into his 50s, died Friday. The man forever known as “Mr. Hockey” was 88.

“Mr Hockey left peacefully, beautifully, and w no regrets,” Murray Howe said in a text to The Associated Press. He said his father died simply of “old age,” not another stroke.

“We are celebrating the life of a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and a friend to all,” the family said in a statement sent by the Detroit Red Wings, Howe’s longtime team, which also confirmed that Howe died in Sylvania, Ohio, at the home of Murray Howe.

Howe shattered records, threw elbows and helped the Red Wings win four Stanley Cups, becoming an idol to Wayne Gretzky and countless others while also helping the sport attract American fans in a development key to the NHL’s growth.

With finesse and a heavy dose of grit, the Hockey Hall of Famer set NHL records with 801 goals and 1,850 points – mostly with the Red Wings – that held up until Gretzky came along.

The Great One himself left no doubt what he thought of Howe.

“Unfortunately we lost the greatest hockey player ever today, but more importantly the nicest man I have ever met,” Gretzky tweeted.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman lauded “the incomparable” Howe as a remarkable athlete with incredible longevity.

“Gordie’s commitment to winning was matched only by his commitment to his teammates, to his friends, to the Red Wings, to the city of Detroit and – above all – to his family,” Bettman said. “Sending our thoughts and prayers to the Howe family and to the millions of hockey fans who like me loved Gordie Howe. RIP Mr. Hockey.”

Howe suffered a stroke in late October 2014 while at his daughter’s home in Lubbock, Texas, losing some function on the right side of his body. He suffered another stroke a short time later and family members said chronic back pain, advanced stages of dementia and high blood pressure were taking a toll. The body Howe relied on as an athlete stayed relatively strong, but memory loss became a problem that family members noticed before the death of their mother, Colleen, in 2009.

A year before his death, Murray Howe said, his father was “comfortable and happy” after having another round of stem cell therapy in Mexico. Howe participated in a clinical trial, which the family credited with helping him walk and do some of things he enjoyed, including making people laugh. The previous year before starting stem cell therapy, Howe told his family he wanted to die.

Mr. Hockey was a giant of the game and no list of the NHL’s greatest players has him anywhere but near the top alongside players like Bobby Orr, Maurice Richard, Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Bobby Hull and Gretzky. Like few others, Howe’s impact on the game stretched over decades.

Howe was also so famously fierce that a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” became synonymous with the combination of having a goal, an assist and a fight in one game.

Besides the four Cups, the talented right winger won six Hart Trophies as NHL MVP and six Art Ross Trophies as the league’s top scorer. Howe began playing for the Red Wings in 1946, leading them to seven straight first-place finishes in the regular season. He was a part of what was known as “The Production Line” with fellow future Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel during his 25-year run with the franchise.

“When Gordie came into the NHL, hockey was a Canadian game. He converted it into a North American game,” former NHL President Clarence Campbell said when Howe retired the first time in 1971 because he was playing with arthritis in his left wrist and for a last-place team.

Howe’s wife orchestrated a plan to get “Mr. Hockey” back on the ice two years later. She helped him live his dream of playing professional hockey with sons Mark and Marty in the World Hockey Association. And at age 45, Howe still had it. He scored 31 goals and had 69 assists, was named MVP of the NHL’s rival league and led the Aeros to the 1973 WHA title – a run that was the focus of a movie: “Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story.”

Howe had 41 points for the Hartford Whalers during the 1979-80 season in what was his 26th and final year in the NHL.

When Howe finally retired for good from the NHL, he was 52 and Gretzky was a rookie. With a single shift with the Detroit Vipers in the International Hockey League in 1997, Howe played professionally in a sixth decade at the age of 69.

He referred to his play as “poetry in slow motion” late in his career, a far cry from his score-and-smash style in his 20s, 30s and early 40s.

Howe handled his business with his elbows and fists almost as often as he did with wrist and slap shots. He ranked among the NHL leaders in penalty minutes three times, spending 100-plus minutes in the penalty box during those seasons.