Jackson Family Patriarch, Joe Jackson Dies at 89

Courtesy: CNN, MGN

Joe Jackson, patriarch of the Jackson family, has died at the age of 89.

CNN says a family source told them Jackson died in a Las Vegas hospital. 

TMZ first reported the news. 

Joe Jackson had been struggling with his health for the past several years. He was hospitalized in 2016 after a high fever, and in 2015, he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke.  

Jackson engineered the careers of The Jackson 5 and then the solo careers of Michael and Janet Jackson. Though his children accused their controversial father of abuse, he was quoted as saying of Michael's accusations, "I never beat him. I whipped him with a stick and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick." Jackson had a difficult relationship with his troubled son. People who knew Michael said that the two became closer after Michael became a father of three, but when the King of Pop died, he cut his father out of his will.

Grandson Taj Jackson, son of Tito Jackson, emphasized, "Joe was loved by our ENTIRE family and our hearts are in pain. Let us grieve without the nastiness.#ripthehawk," in a tweet. 

He was hospitalized earlier this month with terminal cancer. 

The elder Jackson's death came two days after the ninth anniversary of the death of his son, Michael.

He and Katherine Jackson wed in 1949, and had 10 children. 

(CBS News contributed to this report.)