Former Los Angeles Kings owner Jerry Buss died Monday at age 80.

Buss, who bought both the Kings and the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers in 1979, had been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for cancer, though his assistant Bob Steiner reported the immediate cause of death as kidney failure.

The Kings finished second in the Norris Division in each of the first two seasons Buss owned the team, including a 99-point season in 1980-81, a 25-point improvement. Overall, they made the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times during his tenure.

Buss owned the Kings for eight years before selling to Bruce McNall in 1987, a year before the trade for Wayne Gretzky revolutionized hockey in California.