The Professional Darts Corporation is deeply saddened to learn that Dick Allix, one of the organisation's founders, passed away on Wednesday morning.
Allix, along with Tommy Cox and John Markovic, were instrumental in the formation of the World Darts Council in 1992 as the sport's top players broke away from the BDO to form a new era for the sport.
Allix, who had been a player manager at that time, became the WDC's chief executive and later moved into the role of event director following the PDC's subsequent restructure in 2001.
Following his retirement from the PDC in 2014, Allix continued in management and had worked alongside commentators Wayne Mardle, Rod Studd and Dan Dawson in recent years.
He had initially moved into management with Eric Bristow during the five-time World Champion's hey-day, and also represented the iconic Sid Waddell.
Allix, 78, originally rose to fame as the drummer in Vanity Fare, who enjoyed the hit song "Hitchin' A Ride' - which sold over a million copies in America in 1969.
He was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame alongside Cox in 2010 to recognise his contribution to the sport.
"We send our deepest condolences to Dick's family and friends at this sad time," said PDC chief executive Matt Porter.
"Dick made an immense contribution to the sport across five decades and was instrumental alongside Tommy Cox and John Markovic in harnessing the vision to create a new future for darts.
"He held a number of roles within the sport and saw that vision come to fruition, and we know how proud he was to see the PDC go from strength to strength.
"He will be sadly missed by us all."
In 2017, Dick Allix spoke about the formation of the PDC as we marked 25 years since the organisation's first tournament, the 1992 Lada Masters.
"I've got immense pride," said Allix in '25 Years On - The Split'. "To me the whole ethos was that if you were good enough, you'll play and I think the PDC stands for that today.
"We only ever promised the players that we would get it back to where it was, but I think we more than surpassed that.
"People still say that they never envisaged that it would get this big, and it still seems to get bigger and bigger and that's staggering.
"Cliff Lazarenko always said that if it worked and we succeeded in where we were going, he wouldn't benefit – although those 14 players did later get given shares - but he was glad that he had done it so that future players would reap the rewards."
Click here to read 25 Years On - The Split
See Dick Allix discussing the PDC's formation below