Rudi Koertzen, the former South African umpire who was part of the International Cricket Council’s Elite panel, died in a car crash on Tuesday. He was 73 and is survived by his wife and four children. Koertzen died while driving from Cape Town to Despatch in Eastern Cape in South Africa, where he lived with his family.

He was on the Elite panel of umpires for eight years and officiated in 331 matches, a record at the time of his retirement in 2010 that has since been surpassed by Pakistan’s Aleem Dar. Along with Dar and West Indies’ Steve Bucknor, Koertzen was one of three umpires to stand in over 100 Tests.

His son, Rudi Koertzen Jr, confirmed the news. “He went on a golf tournament with some of his friends, and they were expected to come back on Monday, but it seems they decided to play another round of golf,” Koertzen Jr told Algoa FM News, a South African website. “It is a very big loss foremost for his family and then for South Africa and cricket,” Dar said of Koertzen’s death.

“I stood in so many games with him. He was not only very good as an umpire but also an excellent colleague, always very cooperative on field and also always willing to help off the field.”

Koertzen’s first international series was India’s tour of South Africa in 1992-93, his first game was the second ODI in Gqeberha (then Port Elizabeth). Koertzen was nicknamed ‘Slow Death’ because of the time he took to raise his finger while signalling out. The last representative match Koertzen officiated was an IPL tie between RCB and CSK in Bangalore in 2011.