Eddie Jordan, former F1 team owner who gave Michael Schumacher his debut, dies aged 76

(CNN) — Eddie Jordan, the legendary motorsport team owner who gave seven-time world drivers’ champion Michael Schumacher his Formula One debut, has died aged 76, his family announced on Thursday.

A statement from his family said that Jordan had been battling an “aggressive form of prostate cancer” for the last year and that he “passed away peacefully” with his family by his side in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday.

“EJ brought an abundance of charisma, energy and Irish charm everywhere he went,” the statement said. “We all have a huge hole missing without his presence. He will be missed by so many people, but he leaves us with tonnes of great memories to keep us smiling through our sorrow.”

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Jordan became entangled with motorsport from an early age.

He began at the wheel – first in the Irish karting scene before rising through the ranks of Formula 3 and Formula 2 – before turning his attention to setting up his own racing team after a series of injuries.

In 1980, Jordan founded a team – named after himself – and it quickly became renowned for its propensity to give promising young drivers an opportunity; Jordan’s team gave F1 legend Ayrton Senna his first ever Formula 3 drive in 1982.

Jordan grew in stature until, in 1991, it booked its spot on the Formula One grid.

In his team’s debut campaign, he gave Schumacher his first appearance in F1, providing the German driver the springboard to go on to become one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen.

Other big names also suited up for his team, including Rubens Barrichello, Martin Brundle, Damon Hill and Jean Alesi.

Jordan’s team got its first Grand Prix victory in 1998 at the Belgian Grand Prix thanks to Hill, with the British world champion’s teammate, Ralf Schumacher, making it a 1-2 finish for the outfit.

His team’s most successful campaign came in 1999 with an inspired Heinz-Harald Frentzen leading an unlikely title charge, only to eventually fall short to Mika Häkkinen. In total, Jordan’s team had four Grand Prix victories.

Jordan would eventually sell his team in 2005 but, in later years, he became a pundit for British TV’s coverage of F1 and remained a mainstay in the sport.

He became loved by much of the F1 community for his “irrepressible optimism and energetic joie de vivre,” as his website describes it.

“We are deeply saddened to hear about the sudden loss of Eddie Jordan,” F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement. “With his inexhaustible energy, he always knew how to make people smile, remaining genuine and brilliant at all times.

“Eddie has been a protagonist of an era of F1 and he will be deeply missed. In this moment of sorrow, my thoughts and those of the entire Formula 1 family are with his family and loved ones.”

Jordan also worked as the manager of F1 designer Adrian Newey – helping to negotiate legendary engineer’s surprise move from Red Bull to Aston Martin earlier this year – and also spearheaded a consortium to buy English rugby team London Irish.

His family said that he had been “working until the last, having communicated on St Patrick’s Day, about his ambitions for London Irish Rugby Football Club, of which he had recently become Patron.”

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