Former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has died, according to reports Thursday morning. He was 77.

His wife Elizabeth issued a statement announcing his death, which was confirmed by Fox News.

“I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning,” the statement reads. “Roger was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many. He was also a patriot, profoundly grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise—and to give back. During a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment, in politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions. And so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life.”

A cause of death was not provided.

But Gabriel Sherman, who penned the book “The Loudest Voice in the Room” about the TV pioneer’s career at Fox, tweeted that Ailes may have suffered from a deadly blood clot, citing two friends of the family.

“Per 2nd family friend on cause of death: Ailes fell in Palm Beach and had a blood clot from the fall. He suffered complications,” Sherman wrote.

Ailes worked at Fox for 20 years, and during his time there, transformed it into a $3 billion political juggernaut – making the conservative network the most successful cable news channel in TV history.

Ailes became the founding CEO of Fox News in 1996 and built the network, which at the time only reached 17 million viewers — or a less than a third of CNN’s reach — from the ground up.

He re-shaped the network as the “fair and balanced” right-wing alternative to MSNBC and CNN and staffed the 24-7 network with conservative talking heads.

In 1998, Fox quadrupled its ratings with its coverage of President Clinton’s extramarital affair with Monica Lewinksy.

Two years later, it rose to the No. 1 cable news slot after earning a 440 percent increase in viewers from the 2000 presidential election — in which it called the election early for George W. Bush.

By January 2002, Fox surpassed CNN as the top cable news network and would go on to hold that spot for more than a decade, according to the Washington Post.

Ailes, who was born in Warren Ohio, grew Fox’s viewership to 87 million households by 2015.

Before Fox, he served as a Republican party consultant and worked under President Nixon in 1970, when he outlined his vision for the news in a 300-page memo titled “A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News,” CNN reported.

“Today television news is watched more often than people read newspapers, than people listen to the radio, than people read or gather any other form of communication,” the memo read. “The reason: People are lazy. With television you just sit — watch — listen. The thinking is done for you.”

Just prior to Fox, Ailes was a top executive at CNBC in the 1990s.

“This is the most powerful force in the world,” he said about working in television. “Politics is nothing compared to this.”

Tributes to Ailes crediting him with shaping American media and politics flooded social media.

“Today, America lost one of its great patriotic warriors,” host Sean Hannity wrote in a series of tweets. “He has dramatically and forever changed the political and the media landscape, single-handedly for the better.”

“In many ways he was like a second father after I lost my father 6 months after I started at FNC in 3/97. I am forever grateful,” Hannity added.

“Roger Ailes founded one of the most important and successful media outlets in American history,” said conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. “I will miss his friendship dearly.”

Matt Drudge, founder of the Drudge Report, tweeted, “Roger brought news to life. A true American classic. So many stories…”

After serving at the helm of Fox for two decades, Ailes resigned from his post last July in wake of allegations that he sexually harassed female colleagues, including former Fox anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly, and others.

Ailes vehemently denied the accusations.

Carlson, who sued Ailes and Fox for sexual harassment last year, settled with the company for $20 million.

Fox News Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, who is also executive chairman of News Corp., which owns the New York Post, lia said the Fox family was “shocked and grieved” by Ailes’ death.

“A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America’s media over the last 30 years,” Murdoch said in a statement to Fox. “He will be remembered by the many people on both sides of the camera he discovered, nurtured and promoted.”

Murdoch added: “Roger and I shared a big idea which he executed in a way no one else could have. In addition, Roger was a great patriot who never ceased fighting for his beliefs.