Rudy Boesch, a retired tough-as-nails Navy SEAL and fan favorite on the inaugural season of “Survivor,” has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was 91.

Director of operations for the Seal Veterans Foundation, Steve Gonzalez, said Boesch died peacefully Friday night in hospice care in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was surrounded by loved ones.

Boesch joined the Navy in 1944 and retired in 1990. He completed two tours in Vietnam and received a Bronze Star.

Rudy Boesch served with the SEALs in the Mekong Delta and Cam Ranh Bay during the Viet Nam war. (Navy)

He was 72 when he took third place on CBS’ “Survivor.”

He proved to be so popular as a no-nonsense but lovable character that he was invited back for the eighth season, “Survivor: All Stars.”

Gonzalez called Boesch a "legend in the SEAL Teams."

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

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Navy Times editor’s note: Rudolph Boesch was still in training when World War II ended, but he worked his way up the UDTs in the 1950s and was advanced to Chief of the Boat of SEAL Team 2 when it was formed in 1962. Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Boesch retired in 1990 after serving more than 45 years in the special warfare community, including two tours in Vietnam. A command master chief, he was the first senior enlisted adviser at the newly founded U.S. Special Operations Command and departed active duty as the “Bullfrog,” the SEAL with the longest continuous TIS. We’ll second Gonzalez. He was a legend. Fair winds and following seas, Rudy.

Rudy Boesch at Little Creek, Va., shortly after the SEAL teams were formed in 1962. (Navy)

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