84 Lumber founder Joe Hardy speaks at the opening of the company's manufacturing facility in Franklin, Ind., in 2016. Hardy died Saturday, Jan. 7, on his 100th birthday, according to his family. AJ Mast /AP Images for 84 Lumber

AJ Mast

Joseph A. Hardy III, founder of 84 Lumber, Nemacolin resort and Hardy World, died Saturday, Jan. 7, on his 100th birthday.

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Joseph A. Hardy, III,” his family said in a statement. “The Hardy family lost their patriarch and all-around great man. Many knew Joe as a brilliant businessman and enthusiastic entrepreneur. Even with his vast success, Joe always remembered what matters most: people. He helped make the American dream real for so many, and he will be greatly missed.”

Born in 1923, in Upper St. Clair, Hardy graduated from high school in 1941, and served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a lieutenant and Air Forces radioman during World War II, according to the 84 Lumber website.

Following the war, he worked at his uncle’s jewelry store, later graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, and opened Green Hills Lumber in Bridgeville, Pa.

Several years later, he opened 84 Lumber, a cash-and-carry lumber business, in the town of Eighty Four, Pa. He bought property in Farmington, Pa., in 1987 and developed it into Nemacolin.