Wes Tuttle, who served as general manager of the New England Sports Center (NESC) since it opened in 1994, died unexpectedly at his home in Marlborough on Saturday at the age of 62.

Bobby Butler remembers when Wes Tuttle gave him and his father, John, a tour of the New England Sports Center in Marlborough early during its construction.

“I still remember how proud he was,” Butler said Monday.

Tuttle, who served as general manager of New England Sports Center (NESC) since it opened in 1994, died unexpectedly at his home in Marlborough on Saturday at the age of 62.

“He changed the lives of so many and he never asked for anything. He was the man,” said an emotional Butler, who grew up playing hockey at NESC before starring at Marlborough High and the University of New Hampshire and then playing for nearly a decade in the AHL and NHL.

Tuttle helped NESC grow into a thriving facility with 10 rinks. The sports center has the most rinks of any arena in New England – eight full-sized rinks and two smaller ones. Tuttle also oversaw the center’s 65 locker rooms, hockey pro shop, restaurant, snack bar and function rooms.

Steve Kendall grew to know Tuttle when Kendall coached hockey at Nashoba Regional and then became athletic director at Ayer-Shirley, which has a co-op hockey team with Lunenburg.

“Starting the sports center changed the landscape of hockey in this area,” Kendall said, “because it provided so much more access for kids to play hockey, but also bringing more hockey to this region.”

Kendall remembers watching future NHL star Jarome Iginla play for Canada at NESC in the 1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Prior to working at NESC, Tuttle ran Navin Arena in Marlborough.

“He treated me like one of his own,” Butler said. “For as long as I can remember, he would do anything for me and my brothers. We spent our summers growing up going to the sports center and getting on the ice whenever we could. We’d go into his office and say, ‘Wes, can we go on the ice?” and he’d say, ‘Yeah, no problem, let me figure out which rink.’”

Tuttle also never said no when Butler asked to fish off his dock in Marlborough. Whenever Butler entered the sports center, Tuttle greeted him with a smile and a wave.

Butler’s father, John, a former hockey coach at Marlborough High, considered Tuttle to be like an older brother. He used to have coffee with Tuttle frequently.

“Anybody involved in the game of hockey in the last 30 years in this area knows Wes,” an emotional John Butler said. “He touched so many people, so many kids. He loved the game, he respected the game. Anybody who knew him, knew he would do anything for anybody.”

John Butler said Tuttle lived on his phone and enjoyed calling people to play jokes on them, but he will also never forget how giving Tuttle was.

“He was a good person who cared about people,” John Butler said. “If you just met him today and called him tomorrow to ask for a favor, he’d spend that day taking care of it until he helped you.”

Nashoba’s hockey team moved its games from the North Star Youth Forum to NESC about 10 years ago.

“From that point on, he treated us like we had been there from the beginning,” Kendall said. “He really took care of us.”

Tuttle was a people person.

“He could have easily sat in his office and never really associated with anyone,” Kendall said, “but that wasn’t him. He was out there, watching practices. Anything we needed, he treated us like we were the most important people. We all knew we weren’t, but he treated us like we were.

“He loved being around the kids and the sport and talking to our players as they came into the rink and asking how the season was going. He asked what they liked about the rink, he asked what they could do better. He just loved being around the sport of hockey and his personality showed through in those moments when he was interacting with the kids.”

Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to MetroWestDailyNews.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver.

Tuttle is survived by his wife, Mary Jo, who also works at the sports center; his son Ryan, and his daughter, Katie, as well as several grandchildren.

He’s the third general manager or former general manager of a local ice arena who has died in the last few weeks. Retired North Star Youth Forum general manager Dave Roy died at 84 on Sept. 5 and Buffone Skating Arena manager Nick Pennucci died at age 58 on Aug. 17.

“They were all instrumental in everything I have achieved,” Bobby Butler said.

“It’s sad for hockey in our area,” Kendall said, “because these are three guys who have all made quite a big impact on the sport and thousands and thousands of kids growing up playing hockey.”

Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant and Tuttle were friends since they grew up together in the Brigham Street neighborhood in the city.

“He was at the rink all the time,” Vigeant said. “That was his passion. That’s what he worked for and that’s what he lived for.”

Vigeant said Tuttle helped NESC book 45,000 nights at local hotels and 150,000 meals in local restaurants a year prior to the pandemic. The sports center, like many businesses, closed once the pandemic hit. Vigeant said he received calls from many devastated businesses wondering how and when they could re-open. When Tuttle called, Vigeant was surprised to hear him ask if he could help the city at all.

“That’s the type of guy he was,” Vigeant said.

“Anyone who didn’t get to know him, they kind of got ripped off,” John Butler said.

Short & Rowe Funeral Home in Marlborough is assisting with the arrangements.