@Dopekid,
You'll have to tell him, sooner or later. Sooner is better, as it gives him a chance to get over you and come to terms with things. Stringing him along for months or longer is neither nice nor is it fair.
Be kind. Use the old chestnut, "It's not you, it's me." This is not time to be nasty and enumerate faults or reasons or anything of the sort. You're just not attracted to him. You think he's a wonderful person, but you do not feel that way about him and you are not going to. Don't give him hope that things will change (because that's cruel, if there is no hope).
Be prepared for the friendship to end over this. I'm sorry, but that happens rather often in such situations. But you will have done the right thing by him, and helped to free him up emotionally to cultivate an interest in someone else.