UPDATE 3-Former Tyson Foods CEO Don Tyson dies at 80

* Don Tyson dies at 80

* Helped develop McDonald's chicken McNugget

* Headed partnership with 70 pct of voting rights

* Tyson Ltd Partnership to maintain "effective" control (Adds McDonald's comment)

By Lisa Baertlein and Bob Burgdorfer

LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Former Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) Chief Executive Don Tyson, who built a family business into one of the world's biggest meat producers and helped changed the way Americans eat chicken, died on Thursday after a short illness, the company said.

"When he started there was one product: fresh chicken on ice," said Paul Aho, an economist with Poultry Perspective and an industry consultant.

At the time of his death, Tyson was managing general partner of the Tyson Limited Partnership, which controlled nearly 70 percent of the company's voting rights via ownership of 70 million Class B shares, according to company documents.

The partnership said on Thursday it would retain effective control of the company.

Tyson, 80, had led the company that was founded in 1935 by his father, was chairman, chief executive and president, beginning in 1967. He gave up those roles in the 1990s, but remained on the board of directors.

His son, John, is the company's chairman, and Donnie Smith is its CEO.

RISK TAKER, INNOVATOR

During his time at the helm, Don Tyson helped develop a multitude of poultry products beyond the run-of-the-mill broiler and spearheaded acquisitions that transformed the mid-sized producer into a global leader in chicken.

In 2001, when his son John was chairman and CEO, the company bought beef and pork producer IBP Inc to become the largest meat producer in the United States.

"Some people would say he was lucky. Other people would say luck is the residue of good planning and good vision," said Bill Roenigk, vice president of the National Chicken Council, who thought Tyson had good helpings of both.

Industry executives hailed politically connected Tyson, who had a relationship with former Arkansas Governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton, as a pioneer in the industry at a time when it was consolidating and expanding overall production.

He was also instrumental in pushing more chicken products onto fast-food menus. Tyson Foods was one of the original suppliers of McDonald's Corp's (MCD.N) wildly popular McNuggets, a business that continues to this day.

"The Tyson-McDonald's relationship was nurtured ... by Don Tyson personally in the years preceding 1982 when Tyson Foods began production of Chicken McNuggets in its Nashville, Arkansas production facility on 'a handshake'," Dan Gorsky, McDonald's North America's senior vice president for supply chain, said in a statement.

The company's other customers include Yum Brands Inc's (YUM.N) KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut Chains.

"Don Tyson was a legend in the poultry and meat industry, and he was respected by all who did business with him. We send our condolences to his family, friends and employees," Yum said in an email.

Tyson's career was not without controversy.

Tyson Foods paid millions of dollars in fines related to arranging gifts like plane trips and football tickets for Clinton's U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy in the early 1990s, when the company had several matters pending in the Agriculture Department.

Tyson Foods has also been the focus of environmentalists, animal rights groups and labor regulators over pollution, the conditions under which its chickens were raised and accusations of discriminatory work practices.

Tyson Foods shares closed up 11 cents at $16.56 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. (Reporting by Bob Burgdorfer in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Derek Caney)