George Gund III, who had the vision to see the potential for hockey’s success in the Silicon Valley and then made it happen as the Sharks’ original owner, died of cancer Tuesday in Palm Springs. He was 75.

“I don’t think there were too many individuals who would have taken a chance on San Jose as he did,” said former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery. “The people in San Jose, not just hockey fans, really owe George a debt of gratitude.”

Gund, who sold the team in 2002, may have been one of the last free-spirited individualists to own a hockey franchise in an increasingly corporate era. He made things personal in a way the players appreciated, taking the entire inaugural team to an Idaho ski resort in 1991 for a New Year’s Eve celebration, and handing out presents to their children each Christmas as a skating Santa.

“He might be one of the greatest ambassadors for the game of hockey that ever lived,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said. “It’s a very sad day for all of us who ever played here, that ever spent some time around him. He’s going to be missed.”

The Sharks will honor Gund’s memory with a decal bearing his initials — GGIII — on player helmets during the 2012-13 season. Later, those same initials will appear on a jersey patch.

Hockey had been a passion since Gund began skating on ponds as a boy in Cleveland, where his family had parlayed a 19th century brewing business into a flourishing real estate and finance operation. Over the years, he has been a major contributor to USA Hockey, and in 1996 he received the Lester Patrick Award from the NHL for contributions to the game.

In the late 1980s, he and his brother, Gordon, owned both the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and NHL’s Minnesota North Stars. And when their effort to move the North Stars elsewhere failed, the Gunds cut a deal in 1990 to sell that team in exchange for the right to place a franchise in the Bay Area, where George Gund had established a San Francisco home decades earlier.

His options were to place the team in Oakland, or take a chance on the new arena planned for downtown San Jose. A pro-hockey community group lobbied City Hall and connections were made.

“The way he dealt with San Jose and the way he trusted us — and I think we reciprocated that trust — it was rather unique,” said McEnery, who was mayor at the time and later became a part of the Sharks ownership group.

Dean Munro, a former McEnery aide who became executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority, said Gund did not need much convincing.

“Right away, he saw that we had great potential as a sports city — the demographics were undeniable, the arena was going to be spectacular,” said Munro, now the executive director of the Positive Coaching Alliance with an office in the arena.

Because the new arena had no pro tenant, its plan lacked sufficient suites and a press box. At that point, Gund contributed $30 million of his own money for a redesign that brought the overall cost of the arena to $162 million.

Gund was a world traveler who would fly to Europe to watch games with his team’s scouts. But he stuck around San Jose long enough to become a presence, and his distinctive unruly eyebrows made him a recognizable figure.

“Sometimes George was not very easy to understand and he might not always come across, but he’s a very bright guy and he’s a guy who was incredible because of the way he lived his life,” said Greg Jamison, CEO of the Sharks under Gund.

Married to documentary film producer Lara Lee, Gund also invested his time and money in movies and art.

“He was a Renaissance man,” Jamison said. “He was just a guy who felt very strongly about trying to live life to the fullest at a pace that not everyone else could keep up with.”

After he owned the team for more than a decade, Gund was told by advisers that he needed to sell the franchise. He asked Jamison to round up local investors who would keep the Sharks in San Jose, which Jamison did in 2002, staying on as CEO until 2010.

Kevin Compton, a key member of the group now known as Sharks Sports & Entertainment, called Gund “the perfect role model for us to follow after his entrepreneurial establishment of hockey in San Jose.”

Tributes to Gund came from both the Sharks and the NHL, where commissioner Gary Bettman noted in a statement that “the strength of the Sharks franchise today was built on the foundation George created for it.”

Players also had kind words for Gund, who for years occasionally put on his skates and shared the ice with them at practices.

“He always had time to talk, and he was one of the better owners in the league,” Patrick Marleau said. “What a great opportunity that he brought hockey here to San Jose.”

Gund’s wife, brother Gordon and son George IV were at his side when he died. Another son, Greg, was killed in July 2005 when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Costa Rica.

Memorial service arrangements have not been announced.

For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PollakOnSharks.