From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe Grand Old Man of somethingthe Grand Old Man of somethingADMIREa man who has been involved in an activity or a profession for a long time and is highly respected the Grand Old Man of British theatre → grand
Examples from the Corpus
the Grand Old Man of something• That is, apart from the grand old man of Les Bleus.• What would the grand old man of travel have made of the thirty nine days scheduled for the 1991 world tour? 