With his health taking a drastic turn for the worse, Joe Paternohas passed away at the age of 85-years-old.

The former Penn State coaching legend passed away at State College hospital after experiencing complications from lung cancer treatment, a family spokesperson confirmed.

"It is with great sadness that we announce that Joe Paterno passed away earlier today. His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled," the Paterno family told in a statement.

"He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

Having taken over as Penn State's head coach back in 1966, the man commonly referred to as 'Joe Pa' accrued a record 409 wins and two national championships during his time leading the program.

Meanwhile, Paterno's health woes come after he experienced a dramatic past three months of life, having been dismissed as coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team back in November 2010 due to the highly publicized sex scandal involving his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

Recently opening up to the Washington Post about the circumstances surrounding the Sandusky allegations, Joe told, "I'm sick about it. I didn't know exactly how to handle it, and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was. So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn't work out that way."