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Australian sailing great John Cuneo's "legacy of perfection and determination" will live on.

Good enough to win Olympic gold for Australia with a rival's unwanted sails, John Cuneo is being remembered as one of sailing's greatest contributors.

A Hall of Fame member of Sport Australia, Queensland Sport and Sailing Australia, Cuneo died on Tuesday aged 91 and is survived by wife Sylvia and four sons.

A gold medallist at the 1972 Munich Games, Cuneo sailed on Southern Cross in the 1974 America's Cup and won multiple world championships before serving as the country's Olympic yachting coach.

After finishing fifth in his Olympic debut in Mexico's 1968 Games, Cuneo and crew mates Tom Anderson and John Shaw won their first three races to set up their Dragon class gold in Germany for years later.

Needing to finish no worse than 18th in his last race to claim gold, Cuneo's crew came home in fourth, doing so with a sail unwanted by their Canadian rivals.

"I knew we had the gold medal in the bag after we'd gone 100 yards," Cuneo said later.

"It was a piece of cake".

AOC executive member Matt Allen said current Olympians were "in awe" of Cuneo's achievements while his replacement as Australian Sailing president Daniel Belcher said his contribution to sailing had been immense.

"He competed against the best in the world in some of the most competitive classes and beat them all," Belcher said.

"This was at a time where many of our international sailing champions were self-funded, and it is now legend that John's crew won Olympic gold with a set of sails discarded by the Canadian team not long before the Games."

Nephew Barry Cuneo, Commodore at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron where John was a life member, said he would leave a lasting mark on the sport.

"Australia has lost one of the greatest sailors ever produced in this country, but his legacy of perfection and determination to succeed lives on in perpetuity with all those he has touched or met," he said.