(CNN) Rudy Boesch, who was a contestant on the first season of CBS' "Survivor," has died, the SEAL Veterans Foundation said.

"It is with a broken heart that we inform you that Master Chief Rudy Boesch passed away last night," the foundation posted on their Facebook page Saturday.

"Master Chief was a legend in the SEAL and Special Operations community," the foundation said, adding that Boesch served from 1944 to 1990.

Boesch spent the majority of his life as an active-duty SEAL or supporting "the generation of warfighters who still follow in his footsteps," Naval Special Warfare Command Force Master Chief Bill King and Commander Collin P. Green said in a statement.

He enlisted at just 17, during World War II, the two said

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