LEXINGTON, Ky. -- W.T. Young, the owner of Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, who built his fortune selling peanut butter, died Monday in Florida at 84.

After Grindstone finished in front by a nose to give Young his Derby win in 1996, the horse owner told reporters what he thought of the race.

"I thought it was superb,'' Young said. "And I couldn't see a thing.''

Young, the owner of Overbrook Farm, died almost two years to the day after the death of his wife of 56 years, Lucy Hilton Maddox Young, on Jan. 13, 2002.

The couple married in 1945 and lived in Philadelphia until his discharge from the Army in December of that year.

They moved to Lexington, where she assisted her husband in establishing W.T. Young Foods, which created Big Top Peanut Butter, in 1946. The company was sold to Proctor & Gamble in 1955, which renamed the product Jif Peanut Butter.

Young also was chairman of the Executive Cabinet during the 1979-1983 administration of former Gov. John Y. Brown Jr.

"He'll be missed by all who knew him, but what a legacy and imprint his life has left, especially on Lexington and the state of Kentucky,'' Brown said by telephone from Phoenix.

In 1957, Young was appointed to the board of cola maker Royal Crown Co., which at the time owned the Arby's fast-food chain. He held the chairman's position from 1966 to 1984.

At one time, Young was the largest single stockholder of the Louisville-based health care giant Humana, and he served on the board of Kentucky Fried Chicken when it was headed by Brown.

University of Kentucky president Lee Todd told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Young was a "close friend'' of his and one of the university's "most supportive benefactors.''

Young's $5 million donation was "instrumental'' in building university library, Todd said. The library, which opened in 1998, bears Young's name.

Young was a director emeritus of Churchill Downs and founder of W.T. Young Storage Co.

Survivors include a son, Bill Young Jr., and daughter, Lucy Boutin Hamilton.

Arrangements were pending at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home.