Carl Dean, the longtime husband of country music legend Dolly Parton, has died at age 82.

According to a statement provided to The Associated Press by Parton’s publicist, Dean passed away Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. The family has requested privacy, and no cause of death has been announced.

Dean will be laid to rest in a private ceremony attended by his immediate family.

Dolly Parton’s reaction

What they’re saying:

Parton shared a heartfelt message following her husband’s passing.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” she said in a statement.

FILE – Dolly Parton pictured at a past event. (Photo by Andrew Putler/Redferns)

Who was Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband?

The backstory:

Parton and Dean’s love story began the day she moved to Nashville at 18 years old. The two met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat, where Dean made a lasting impression.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton once recalled. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

Two years later, they married on May 30, 1966, in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.

Dean was a business person who owned an asphalt-paving company in Nashville. Despite his wife’s global fame, he largely stayed out of the public eye and rarely made appearances.

His parents, Virginia “Ginny” Bates Dean and Edgar “Ed” Henry Dean, had three children. Parton often spoke warmly of his mother, referring to her as “Mama Dean.”

Dean is survived by Parton and his two siblings, Sandra and Donnie.