For many supporters, Rimmer will always be bound to the great Aston Villa side of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
That run remains central to his legacy. Villa’s win over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam still stands as one of the club’s defining nights, and Rimmer was a key figure on the road there, even if injury cruelly interrupted his final.
Before Villa, there was Manchester United. Rimmer may have spent much of that spell behind Alex Stepney, but he still belonged to the era shaped by Sir Matt Busby and to the squad that collected the 1968 European Cup.
That matters. So does the respect of former team-mates. “Notícia muito triste saber que Jimmy Rimmer morreu. Descanse em paz e muito amor à família de Jimmy,” Stepney said in the tribute carried by the update.
His career did not stop with those headline moments.
The next few days will likely bring more tributes from Villa, United and the wider game. And as both clubs look ahead to their next fixtures, supporters will surely pause to remember a goalkeeper whose name is stitched into European history.