Jim Fanning, who can reasonably be called the “father” of the Montreal Expos franchise, has died at the age of 87.

Fanning had been working in the Braves’ organization when the Commissioner’s office hired him in 1968 to start up MLB’s first scouting bureau. Fanning had only just arrived in the Commissioner’s office when John McHale, another MLB employee with whom Fanning had worked with the Braves, was named President and CEO of the newly christened Expos. McHale tapped Fanning to be his new GM, the first of many positions in which Fanning would serve the Expos for most of the franchise’s  36 seasons in “La Belle Province”. Included were two brief stints as the on-field manager, the first when taking over from Dick Williams in the final month of the 1981 season and guiding the Expos to their only NL East crown.

I can’t add much to SABR’s excellent biography by Norm King (except to say that Fanning is the first Illinois-born player to die in Ontario, Canada), so I will just commend  the article to your reading pleasure.