Hall of Famer, humanitarian and legendary shot blocker Dikembe Mutombo has died at the age of 58, the NBA announced Monday. The cause of death was brain cancer, which he was diagnosed with in October 2022. Mutombo was surrounded by his family when he died.

Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mutombo became one of the best defensive players of all time during his 18-year career. He played for six teams in total, but spent most of his time with the Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets. (He spent more than one season with the Philadelphia 76ers and one season each with the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks.) He was an eight-time All-Star and a four-time Defensive Player of the Year. He led the NBA in blocks in 1994, 1995 and 1996, and led the league in rebounds in 2000 and 2001. Both the Hawks and Nuggets retired his number, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Born Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacque Wamutombo in 1966, he originally planned to become a doctor and planned to study medicine at Georgetown before being recruited to play basketball by legendary coach John Thompson. He earned degrees in linguistics and diplomacy in 1991, but when the Nuggets drafted him fourth overall, there was no doubt his future lay in basketball and not international relations.

Of course, you can’t talk about Mutombo without mentioning finger wagging. Mutombo delivered the famous “no, no, no” finger wiggle when executing a particularly vicious block.

The finger-wagging became larger than life, and Mutombo was there. He did it in pictures, he did it on the red carpet, he did it in commercials. It became part of who he was, and like life itself, he embraced it.

After Mutombo’s retirement from the NBA in 2009, he focused on philanthropy and humanitarianism, wanting to give back to his home country and the entire African continent. He founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997 (12 years before his retirement) to improve living conditions in the DRC, and has received numerous awards from the NBA and other organizations for his work in Africa to improve conditions and prevent the spread of polio to push back.

Mutombo’s son, Ryan, posted a touching tribute to his father on Instagram.

Commissioner Adam Silver, who named Mutombo the first NBA Global Ambassador, released a statement on his friend’s death.

Mutombo is survived by his wife Rose, their three children and four children of Rose’s late brothers, whom they adopted in 1996.