Phyllis Gretzky, the mother of Hockey Hall of Famer and coach of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, Wayne Gretzky, has died at the age of 64. She had been battling lung cancer since her diagnosis in the autumn of 2004. Phyllis Gretzky died at Brantford General Hospital, surrounded by her five children, after being admitted into hospital on December 15 for pneumonia.

She has been described as a "down-to-earth mother" to her five children and she had always tried to maintain privacy for all her children amid the spotlight of her first born son's celebrity status.

Born Phyllis Hockin, she was born and raised in Paris, Ontario and was of British ancestry. She was a descendant of Isaac Brock, a general with British forces during the War of 1812. She was only 15 years old when she met Walter Gretzky, who was 18 at the time, at a wiener roast on the Gretzky family farm. They were married three years later, in 1960, at the Anglican church in Paris, and they settled in Brantford where they purchased a home.

Phyllis Gretzky is survived by her husband, Walter, five children, Wayne, Kim and Keith, Glen and Brent and 12 grandchildren.