Ulf Ekelund took the World Athletics Championships to Gothenburg in 1995 - a championship that was a success and an audience party.
He was also Secretary General (1975-1984) and CEO of the Swedish Athletics Association.
A month ago, Ekelund himself wrote on Facebook that he had cancer and that he did not have much time left to live.
"I have spent the weekend on sports and not least on the European Championships in athletics, which looks to be my last when I received the news the day before yesterday that I have 'very many metastases of malignant melanoma in the brain' and that it is incurable and the process is expected to go fast and that I have a short time left ", he wrote according to Aftonbladet.
Yesterday, Ekelund passed away, 77 years old, his husband confirms to the newspaper.
- It's terrible.
Even though I knew the cancer had spread, you get this shock when he passes away.
The cancer was of course contributing, but he fell and broke his femoral neck and then he got a very severe pneumonia.
Even though you know how it will go and think you are prepared, you are not, says Lajos Nagy.