 Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Dies in L.A. Hospital 
 
 Jerry Buss Dead -- Lakers Owner Dies After Battle with Cancer 
 
 Breaking News 
 
 -- owner of the-- died early this morning at the age of 80.Buss had been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in L.A. for the past few months due to a previously undisclosed intestinal problem ... though it was revealed yesterday he'd been battling cancer the entire time.After starting his career as a chemist, Buss soon found his true calling in the real estate biz ... snapping up properties all over L.A. before moving on to the sporting world.In 1979, Buss made history when he purchased the Lakers, theandfor $67.5 million -- at that time, the largest transaction in sports.Under his ownership, Buss watched dozens of all-time greats -- includingand-- win the Lakers 10 NBA Championships. "We've just got to sit over the [All-Star] break and just kind of reflect and think on how important this is to you and what it means to you," he said. ALSO: 
 
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 Lakers' Dwight Howard has 'got to get going," Jeff Van Gundy says "You'd be hard-pressed to find another owner who has had that kind of success," he said. The Lakers won five titles in nine years during the 1980s, earning a reputation as basketball's most exciting team with their glamorous style led by Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who was Buss' first draft pick. O'Neal and Bryant then led the Lakers to a three-peat from 2000 to 2002 under Jackson before Bryant and Pau Gasol won two more titles in 2009 and 2010.
– Lakers owner Jerry Buss died this morning at age 79, after a secret hospital stay, TMZ reports. News broke last week that Buss had for months been hospitalized for an undisclosed form of cancer, though at the time family members said he was "doing fine," USA Today reports. Buss, who made his fortune in real estate, has owned the Lakers since 1979, a span that includes 10 championships and the celebrated "Showtime" era, an LA Times obituary observes. "He's meant everything to me," Kobe Bryant reflected on Friday, "in terms of taking a risk on a 17-year-old kid coming out of high school and then believing in me my entire career. And then for the game itself, the brand of basketball that he implemented in Showtime carried the league."