Billy Graham's son Franklin recently expressed his thoughts regarding the passing of the late Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Truett Cathy's family after his passing this morning. I knew Mr. Cathy for many years and had the privilege of riding motorcycles with him," said Franklin Graham on the BGEA.

"He was a fine Christian gentleman that carried his Christian business principles throughout life. His restaurants were never open on Sunday out of respect for the Lord's day. He was kind and extremely generous and used the profits from his business to help others. He will be greatly missed."

Cathy previously faced opposition from the LGBT community two years ago when his son Dan expressed his views on marriage.

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that," said Dan Cathy to the Baptist Press in an interview published on July 16, 2012.

"We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that."

Cathy further expressed his views regarding the issue of marriage in America.

"We intend to stay the course," said Cathy, "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

S. Truett Cathy passed away inside his home on September 8, 2014 at the age of 93. The Cathy family are expected to host a public funeral service on Wednesday, September 10, at 2 PM at First Baptist Jonesboro in Jonesboro, Georgia.