Sam Simon, the comedy writer and producer who co-created The Simpsons, has died aged 59.
Fox Broadcasting confirmed that Simon died on Sunday at home in Los Angeles. He had been diagnosed with terminal colorectal cancer in February 2013.
A nine-time Emmy award winner, Simon was made showrunner on the sitcom Taxi aged 23. He wrote for and produced Cheers and The Drew Carey Show, and created a show for legendary US comedian George Carlin.
However, it was The Simpsons, now the longest-running primetime show in the United States, that placed Simon in the pantheon of TV innovators. He described them as the “first full self-aware dysfunctional family” on US TV.
Simon developed the show with Matt Groening and James L Brooks. They had worked together on The Tracey Ullman Show, which featured the animated family – which Groening based on his own – in brief sketches either side of the commercial breaks. It launched in December 1989.
Variety reports that Simon co-wrote almost a dozen episodes of the show, as well as working in a number of roles including co-showrunner and creative supervisor. He spent four seasons on The Simpsons before leaving in 1993, though he retained the title of executive producer.
Simon’s severance package from the show made him rich enough not to need to work. Last November, Time reported that in the light of his illness, Simon was giving away most of his $100m fortune, mainly to animal rights charities including Peta.
Simon told NBC News’s Maria Shriver that despite his terminal diagnosis, his final months had been happy. “Somehow, I ended up surrounded by people that love me and take care of me and will do anything for me. It’s a good feeling. That’s called happiness.”
