Dr. Donald Bruce Irwin, who turned a Hoover clinic into the 30-state AFC healthcare network, died Friday at the age of 73.

According to an announcement from American Family Care, Irwin’s death came following a sudden illness.

“Dr. Irwin was a visionary leader and pioneer of accessible primary care and urgent care who dedicated his life to improving access to quality healthcare,” AFC President Randy Johansen said.

“No words can express our sadness about his death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. Dr. Irwin’s legacy will continue to live on through the work we do every day, and we will be diligent in carrying forward the mission of American Family Care.”

Funeral services will be held Saturday at Birmingham’s Asbury United Methodist Church, with visitation beginning at 2 p.m. and services at 3 p.m.

A graduate of Birmingham Southern College and the UAB School of Medicine, Irwin opened the first American Family Care in Hoover in 1982. The franchise model took off in 2013 when the company acquired, and rebranded Doctor’s Express, an urgent care franchise.

Headquartered in Birmingham, AFC now has more than 300 locations across 30 states.

In a 2011 interview with The Birmingham News, Irwin recounted how he envisioned the AFC concept from his time as an emergency room physician – for a stand-alone medical facility equipped and staffed like an ER, with extended hours and no need for appointments.

“Many people were coming to the emergency room with problems which could have been cared for in a less expensive and more convenient manner,” Irwin said.

Irwin said he got the inspiration to become a doctor caring for his father, who was injured on the job as a railroad worker in 1949, and needed a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A later adverse reaction by his father to penicillin resolved Irwin to head to medical school.

He is survived by his wife Carla and several children and grandchildren.