Skateboarder Jeff Grosso died at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, Calif. on Tuesday, the Orange County coroner's office told TheWrap. He was 51. The cause of death has not yet been been determined.
Multiple figures from the world of extreme sports have paid tribute to Grosso since his death. The skateboarding legend hosted the popular Vans video series "Loveletters to Skating" which featured fellow skateboarders, including Tony Hawk. Hawk weighed in on Grosso's passing on Wednesday in an interview with TMZ.
"Jeff was a true skateboarder at his core, and a great wealth of entertainment, insight and valuable philosophy to a younger generation," Hawk said. "I was lucky enough to skate with him over the last four decades and occasionally featured on his Vans' Love Letters series."
Hawk also called Grosso "an ambassador and gatekeeper" to the history of the sport of skateboarding.
Thrasher Magazine's Michael Burnett took to social media to pay tribute.
"Jeff went from number-one amateur to 80s superstar to cautionary tale and back again," Thrasher Magazine's Michael Burnett wrote in an Instagram tribute. "His latest role as lovable curmudgeon, host of his own history-packed web series and keeper of skateboarding's righteousness, unafraid to offend or annoy in his quest to educate, was by far his greatest — second only to being Oliver's dad."
Grosso had posted a video of himself dancing with his eight-year old son, Oliver, on Monday.
