Former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo passed away earlier today after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 58.

Mutombo was an eight-time All-Star who played for the Nuggets, Hawks, 76ers, Nets, Knicks and Rockets. After retiring in 2009, he served as a global ambassador for the NBA.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement announcing his death. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

The 7-foot-2 center was selected by Denver with the #4 overall pick in the first round of the 1991 NBA Draft. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging 16.6 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game.

Mutombo was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year four times in 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98 and 2000-01. He finished in the top three of voting for DPOY nine different times.

The Georgetown University product led the NBA in blocked shots five seasons in a row from 1993-94 to 1997-98. He paced the league in rebounds four times as well.

Mutombo had his best years with Atlanta and Denver. After spending his first five seasons with the Nuggets, Mutombo signed with the Hawks as a free agent in 1996. He helped Atlanta advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals twice in his first three years with the club.

When the Hawks started rebuilding during the Lon Kruger Era, they traded Mutombo to Philadelphia. He helped the 76ers get to the NBA Finals in 2000-01.

Mutombo is ranked second in NBA history with his 3,289 career blocked shots. He’s ranked #21 in career rebounds with 12,359.

Just like his height, Mutombo’s voice was towering, filled with enthusiasm and happiness. He laughed hard and loud, permeating whatever room or arena he was in with his exuberant zest for life.

Mutombo earned $143,666,581.00 during his 18-year career. He was a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to help improve living conditions in the area.

Mutombo was well known for his humanitarian work. In 2011, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health issued Mutombo the Goodermote Humanitarian Award “for his efforts to reduce polio globally as well as his work improving the health of neglected and underserved populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Mutombo donated $18.5 million toward the construction and completion of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa. The $29 million hospital, which was named for his mother who died of a stroke in 1997, opened in 2006 and became the first modern medical facility built in that area in 40 years.

The Hawks retired Mutombo’s #55 jersey in 2005, and the Nuggets did the same in 2006. In 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

His full name was Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo. He was a gentleman, one of the good guys.

He’s gone too soon, but it was a spectacular 58 years he spent with us.

Rest in peace, big fella.