CALGARY — Investment firm AltaCorp Capital Inc. says its founder and CEO, Calgary oil and gas financier George Gosbee, died suddenly on Sunday.

Gosbee was a former governor of the National Hockey League and, in 2013, led a group to purchase the Arizona Coyotes and restructure the team. Current team owner Andrew Barroway tweeted he was "deeply saddened" by the news.

Gosbee, 48, founded AltaCorp Capital in 2010 and struck a deal to partner it with ATB Financial, an Alberta government-owned lender.

In 2000, he helped found Tristone Capital Global Inc., an energy investment firm which he and his partners sold in 2009 to Australia’s Macquarie Group for about $130 million.

Gosbee served as vice-chairman of Alberta Investment Management Co., which manages $90 billion in provincial government pension funds, for eight years.

AltaCorp says president Paul Sarachman will assume the role of CEO.