The man with one big claim to fame – inventing the McDonald’s Big Mac – has died at the age of 98.

Jim Delligatti’s start with McDonald’s was unremarkable, becoming a franchisee of a McDonald’s in the Pittsburgh region in the 1950s, but in 1967 he had his big breakthrough and made the first Big Mac.

He began serving the creation – made up of two beef patties, lettuce, cheese, onions, special sauce and pickles on a sesame seed bun – at his Uniontown restaurant for 45 cents and it quickly expanded to his other 47 stores.

It was added to the McDonald’s US menu in 1968, and came to Australian shores in 1971 when the first store opened in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona.

According to his son, Delligatti consumed at least one Big Mac per week for decades.

The Big Mac has been used as a reference point by the Economist for 30 years to compare the cost of living in different countries – a concept called the Big Mac Index.

In 1992 Pittsburgh was even temporarily renamed Big Mac, USA in honour of the burger’s 25th anniversary.

For the 40th anniversary, Delligatti opened the Big Mac Museum in Pennsylvania which has the world’s largest Big Mac statue.

More than 900 million Big Macs are sold annually around the world yet McDonald’s says Delligatti received no payment or royalties for the creation.

Earlier this year the biographical film The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, was released which portrays the story of Ray Kroc, who turned McDonald’s into a billion-dollar fast food empire.

Deligatti is survived by his wife, two sons, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.