Dan Rooney, the longtime chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers who helped shape the National Football League, died at the age of 84. Rooney’s death was announced on the Steelers’ website. Rooney was instrumental in engineering the merger between the American Football League and the NFL during his eight decades in the industry. Rooney was connected to the Steelers from birth; his father, Art, bought the team in 1933. His first job was as water boy, and he worked his way up, eventually becoming chairman. “My father meant so much to all of us, and so much to so many past and present members of the Steelers organization,” said Rooney’s son and the team president Arthur Rooney II. “He gave his heart and soul to the Steelers, the National Football League and the City of Pittsburgh.”