Tommy posted the following on his Facebook page earlier tonight

“I woke up today from a call informing me my friend Howard Finkel had passed away.
I’ve cried off and on all day
I would visit Howard once a month
He was in a assisted living place they took great care of him and both nurses were fans.
Hearing him announce my name was a dream come true, saying AND NEWWWW HARDCORE CHAMPION TOMMY DREAMER was surreal.
I worked in WWE office for 3 years and Howard and I shared an office twice. Until i had my own & he was my neighbor
We worked in Talent Relations together and became super close.
I have so many great stories & memories of him The Ace John Laurinaitis
The Heater Howard
The Stooge Mark Carrano and I was the Suit
Howard was the 1st WWE employee
He started as an usher New Haven Coliseum who recommended WWF to his manager to bring to the venue. The manager introduced the man responsible to the successful show to Vince McMahon and the rest was history.
He became an announcer then was the 1st ever employee. He worked creative w/Vince and Pat Patterson. Worked talent relations announced,wrestled, did tv promos magazing website basically everything you asked.
He loved WWE and performing in front of the fans.
I fight back tears writing this because as his mind was going I would always talk wrestling and it would snap him back to being The Fink because wrestling & his job was his life
He was a season ticket holder of the Jets since day 1
Howard loved the Mets and had tons of useless knowledge of music
A true Hall of Famer
The Greatest Announcer of All Time
The most loyal person to WWE
HOWEVER mainly he was my friend that I will miss dearly
I wish i could pay my respects but I cant due to the world situation.
Im proud to see how one man touched the lives of so many
I just wanted everyone to know how much he loved you
There are good fans
There are great fans
But you are the Best fans ever”