Paul Carey, a radio broadcaster whose accounts of Tigers games captivated sports fans for nearly two decades, has died. He was 88.

Nancy Carey said her husband, who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease, died “very peacefully” Tuesday at their home in the Detroit suburb of Rochester. She said he was “the love of my life and anybody that knew him was better off for knowing him.”

In a statement, the Tigers said Carey was “a consummate professional who had one of the most distinctive and classic broadcast voices.” He was Ernie Harwell's radio broadcast partner from 1973-91 and was behind the microphone during the Tigers' 1984 World Series championship season.

“The team of Ernie and Paul was such a great team,” current Tigers play-by-play radio announcer Dan Dickerson told the Detroit Free Press. “I grew up listening to these guys.

“I think the thing I took away from listening to those broadcasts (was) just the way they called a really good game. (Carey) had a powerful voice that kind of sucked you into the radio.”

Indeed, Carey's voice was authoritative and deep. During Tigers broadcasts, his shift spanned the middle three innings, with Harwell typically announcing the other six. During most of those seasons, Carey also served as a broadcast engineer, hauling equipment and arranging communications with Detroit station WJR-AM.

“Maybe one of the reasons we got along so well is that there was quite a difference in our personalities and approaches,” Carey told the Detroit News in an interview after Harwell died in 2010. “Ernie got up early and exercised early. I got up late as I could and exercised as little as I could.

“I'm a worrier; Ernie was not. He didn't fret. Again, maybe that's why we got along so well. We weren't finishing each other's sentences.”

In addition to his nearly two decades in the Tigers booth, the native of Mount Pleasant, Mich., worked for several other radio stations.

Carey was an honorary lifetime member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and a former president of the organization. He was awarded the 2012 DSBA Ernie Harwell Lifetime Achievement Award.