HOMOSASSA, Fla. — A larger-than-life celebrity has died.

Lu the African hippopotamus and longtime resident at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park died on Sunday.

The hippo was 65.

A special tribute area was established at the park on Monday where guests could leave messages. 

Lu came to Homosassa Springs in 1964 after being born at the San Diego Zoo in 1960.

After the Florida Park Service acquired the park in 1989, Lu's future was uncertain since the focus at the park shifted to native Florida wildlife.

But with public support, then Gov. Lawton Childs granted Lu with an honorary Florida Citizenship in 1991.