DALLAS — Tom Hicks, the Texas businessman and philanthropist who owned two Dallas-area professional sports franchises and an English Premier League soccer team, has died. He was 79.

Spokesperson Lisa LeMaster said in statement that Hicks died peacefully Saturday in Dallas surrounded by family.

Hicks owned the NHL’s Dallas Stars from 1995-2011, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. He also owned baseball’s Texas Rangers from 1998-2010, a period when they won three American West Division titles and made their first World Series appearance just months after the team was sold. In 2007, he acquired a 50% stake in Liverpool.

“Being shoulder to shoulder with him was always about more than ballparks and stadiums, though,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. “It was about personal respect, trust and friendship. We shared a lot of miles together, and I’ll miss him greatly. My heart goes out to his family.”

Hicks co-founded Hicks & Haas in 1984 and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989, helping reshape private equity and investing strategy.

“Tom Hicks was an innovative businessman and a pioneer in private equity,” fellow Texas businessman Ross Perot Jr. said in a statement. “He combined his commitment to business and sports through his ownership of the Stars and the Rangers.”

One of Hicks’ most notable moments with the Rangers came 25 years ago at baseball’s winter meetings in Dallas, when the team signed Alex Rodriguez, then a 25-year-old All-Star shortstop, to a $252 million, 10-year contract in free agency.

Rodriguez led the American League in homers in all three of his seasons with the Rangers with 156 in that span, but they had an overall record of 216-270. He was traded to the New York Yankees at the start of spring training in 2004.

The Rangers’ first World Series appearance in October 2010 came after the team was bought that August by an ownership group that then included Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. After an initial agreement to buy the team from Hicks at that start of that year, a messy bankruptcy case ensued before the group finally acquired it at auction with a bid valued at $590 million.

The Stars, the NHL franchise that moved from Minnesota before the 1993-94 season, became the league’s first champion from the Sun Belt when they raised the Stanley Cup in 1999 after beating Buffalo in Game 6. They made the Stanley Cup Final again the following season, losing a six-game series to New Jersey.

The Stars in a statement Sunday lauded the team’s unprecedented on-ice success under Hicks’ ownership.

“He also played an instrumental role in the development and planning of the American Airlines Center, along with the grassroots growth of hockey through the creation of numerous StarCenter facilities,” the team said. “Our franchise would not be in the position we are today without the ownership of Mr. Hicks. His legacy will be honored by our franchise for decades to come.”