Tom Ford Announces Death of Husband, Richard Buckley, at 72

Richard Buckley, a legendary fashion editor who once worked at the industry trade journal Women's Wear Daily, has died, according to his husband, fashion designer Tom Ford. Buckley was 72.

Buckley passed Sunday and "died of natural causes after a long illness," a statement to People from Ford's representatives said.

"It is with great sadness that Tom Ford announces the death of his beloved husband of 35 years, Richard Buckley," the statement said. "Richard passed away peacefully at their home in Los Angeles with Tom and their son Jack by his side."

During his time in fashion, Buckley worked at New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, Vogue Italia, and WWD. At one point he was the editor in chief of Vogue Hommes International. It was while he was at WWD -- he was also working as the editor of Scene at the time -- that he met Ford in 1986. At the time, Buckley was 38 and Ford was 25.

The pair met in an elevator in a story often told by Ford. According to him it was love at first sight. According to Ford, he saw Buckley at a David Cameron fashion show and "his stare was so intense that it completely unnerved me, and when the show was over I literally bolted out the door and down the street to avoid him."

He recounted the tale in a 2011 cover story for Out magazine. Ten days later, then an employee of Cathy Hardwick, he had to go to WWD to pick up some clothes and found himself in the elevator with Buckley who was taking him to where the clothes were.

"I decided in that elevator ride that I was going to marry him," Ford told Out. "I'm very pragmatic, and I was, like, OK, there's some kind of connection here. He ticked every box, and -- boom -- by the time we got to the floor, I was like, OK, sold. He seemed so together. He was so handsome, he was so connected, he was so grown-up, so he was very intimidating. And he really chased me -- not that he had to chase that hard. It excited me but it also scared me, because I knew he was different and that whatever it was I felt with him was very different from what I'd felt before."

Hardwick later set them up for a date. About a month after they met, Ford moved in with Buckley. Three years later Buckley was diagnosed with cancer.

They married in 2014 and announced the birth of their son, Alexander John Buckley Ford, in 2012.

In a story about his departure from Vogue Hommes International, where he served as top editor for from 1999 to 2005, WWDwrote that he had made the magazine "synonymous with smart, themed issues and controversial fashion shoots depicting men in lipstick, cavorting with prostitutes or locked behind bars." Previously, while at WWD he served as the Eye editor.