World Wrestling Entertainment's iconic ring announcer is gone.

Howard Finkel is dead at 69, the company announced on Thursday.

A native of Newark, NJ, Finkel's history with the company dated back to 1975 when he was the first employee hired for Vince McMahon's World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).

Finkel was famous for his signature calls, emphasizing the world "new" when announcing a title change and stressing a wrestler's nickname, most notably with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

Finkel would occasionally become involved with on-screen storylines over the years, feuding with manager Harvey Wippleman in 1992, assisting Sean "X-Pac" Waltman against Jeff Jarrett in 1998 and briefly accompanying Chris Jericho to the ring the following year.

By 2000, his role as ring announcer was no longer a full-time one with Finkel only making sporadic appearances on television, but appearing at every WrestleMania up until 2016.

In recent years, Finkel had been working in a backstage capacity for the company.

Finkel was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.