Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts founder Bob Henr

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — The man who founded the Schlitterbahn water park in Central Texas has died.

Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts said in a statement Tuesday that Bob Henry died at his New Braunfels home a day earlier after a prolonged illness. He was 89.

Gary Henry, president of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, says his father leaves a legacy “to generations of guests who have made memories in the parks he made possible.”

Henry and his family started Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels in 1979.

The Henry family named the water park by combining the German words for slippery — Schlitter — and for road — Bahn.

The company also has water parks in three other Texas cities — South Padre Island, Galveston and Corpus Christi — as well as in Kansas City, Kansas.