Nicholas Gray, the founder of Gray's Papaya, died at a hospital in Manhattan on Friday.
He was 86.
According to Gray's daughter, he died of complications of Alzheimer's disease.
The merging of papaya and hot dog hadn't been a thing until Gray teamed with Papaya King in 1973.
After two years, he went independent and branched off to open his famous Gray's Papaya on 72nd and Broadway.
The restaurant has gone to become a Big Apple institution.
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