Sheldon Adelson , a billionaire casino magnate whose huge political donations made him a top influence on the Republican Party and President Donald Trump , has died. He was 87.

Adelson was the founder and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which announced his death Tuesday from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Adelson was 17th on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans in 2020, with a fortune estimated at $26.8 billion.

He lavished political contributions on Republican politicians and was Trumps largest donor . He famously made the largest single donation to any U.S. presidential inauguration a sum of $5 million to Trumps inaugural committee.

He and his wife, Miriam, pumped at least $205 million into campaign and party committees and super PACs to support Republican politicians over the 2016 and 2018 election cycles, according to Federal Election Commission records. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in U.S. elections, reported in October that the Adelsons had set a new record for donations from individuals in a single election cycle, giving $172.7 million to Republican candidates.

Trump released a statement Tuesday on Adelsons death, saying the world has lost a great man. Former President George W. Bush praised him as an American patriot .

In a last-ditch effort to reelect Trump in the 2020 election, the Adelsons gave $75 million to the super PAC Preserve America, which aimed to attack Joe Biden . Biden went on to win the election.

Adelson didnt back Trump in the 2016 GOP primary his pick was Newt Gingrich. But he sank millions into Trumps general election campaign. Since then, he has shown enormous influence on Trumps policies , including the presidents decisions to scrap the Iran nuclear deal and move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem .

In February 2017 just weeks after Trump took office Adelson met with him, ProPublica reported . A day later, Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The president stunned the Japanese leader by asking his government to approve Adelsons bid for a Japan casino, according to the report, which cited two people present at the meeting.

The Adelsons also contributed $500,000 to a legal defense fund set up for Trump and his associates during the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump awarded Miriam Adelson a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.