Joe Wurzelbacher, known to the American people as "Joe the Plumber" during the 2008 presidential election, died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday at the age of 49.

Twitter lit up with the news of Wurzelbacher's death late Sunday afternoon, as Breitbart News reported.

“Horrible news. My good friend Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, passed away this morning at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer,"  announced Townhall columnist Derek Hunter,

He was a good man and an exceptional friend. Please consider helping his widow and young children here,” Hunter went on, along with sharing a GiveSendGo link.

The Diagnosis

The GiveSendGo page shared along with news of the public figure's death said that Wurzelbacher was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer earlier this year.

The diagnosis came after Wurzelbacher experienced severe stomach pains over the Christmas holiday that put him in the emergency room.

“The treatment has been a little tough so far. He deals with fatigue and weakness daily, which makes it hard for him to go to work,"  Joe’s wife Katie said at the time.

"The oncologist has made adjustments to his chemo which has provided a little relief of the constant nausea he had after his first two treatments. Since all his issues and treatment began, he’s lost 70 pounds."

Joe and his wife tied the knot in 2011 and the pair have three children together.

Wurzelbacher's Rise to Popularity

During the 2008 presidential election, the media labeled Wurzelbacher "Joe the Plumber" after he questioned then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on his tax policy. As a result, Wurzelbacher became a household name.

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes 250 to 280 thousand dollars a year. Your new tax plan’s going to tax me more, isn’t it?” asked Joe.

“If you’re a small business, which you would qualify, first of all, you would get a 50 percent tax credit so you’d get a cut in taxes for your health care costs,” Obama responded.

“So you would actually get a tax cut on that part. If your revenue is above 250, then from 250 down, your taxes are going to stay the same. It is true that, say for 250 up — from 250 to 300 or so, so for that additional amount, you’d go from 36 to 39 percent, which is what it was under Bill Clinton.”

“It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance at success, too,” he continued.

“My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off […] if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”