"Reg Grundy has passed away in the arms of his beloved wife Joy, on their Bermuda estate," Alan Jones said on 2GB radio today.
News of his death was announced the morning after the Australian television industry celebrated its annual awards night, the Logies, in Melbourne.
The Nine Network's entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins said Grundy was a television industry veteran.
"He was such a classy, elegant dignified man who started out as a host himself then went on to be an absolute pioneer. His beautiful wife Joy will be devastated. She is an author. They have travelled the world a lot on the magnificent big boat of theirs, one of the world's great boats," he said.
Grundy's health had deteriorated in recent years, according to Network Seven.
"He has still been getting out and about," Showbiz report Peter Ford said.
Grundy had a remarkable career in the entertainment business and was widely regarded as the king of Australian game shows.
He started his career developing the radio show Wheel of Fortune which was adapted for television in 1959.
By the late 1970s, his company, then known as the Grundy Organisation, had purchased game-show formats, including the enduring Sale of the Century.
He also developed a host of Australian TV dramas including Prisoner, The Young Doctors, The Restless Years, Sons and Daughters and Neighbours.
"An extraordinary man. A great Aussie success story," Ford said.
Grundy lived in Bermuda with Joy Chambers who he married in 1971.
He was a private figure who rarely gave interviews.
