One of the last well-known names in the world of newspaper comic strips has passed away.
Scott Adams — the cartoonist who created the character Dilbert and later launched a second career as a right-wing political influencer — has died.
He was 68 years old.
Word of Adams’ death comes courtesy of his first wife, Shelly Miles, who shared the news in a livestream on Tuesday morning.
“I had an amazing life,” Adams said in a statement shared by Miles. “I gave it everything I had.”
Adams revealed in May that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and given only months to live.
He explained that he was hesitant to reveal his diagnosis, as “once you go public, you’re just the dying cancer guy.”
However, Adams said that he decided to speak up after President Joe Biden revealed he had the same illness.
“I’d like to extend my respect and compassion for the ex-president and his family because they’re going through an especially tough time,” he said. “It’s a terrible disease.”
While working as an engineer for the Pacific Bell telephone company in the 1980s, Adams began doodling what would later become his most famous character.
Launching in 1989, Dilbert would eventually be published in more than 2,000 newspapers nationwide.
The comic’s influence is still apparent in workplace-skewering comedies like The Office.
In the early days of the internet, Adams proved to be adept at digital self-marketing, becoming one of the first mainstream cartoonists to launch his own website.
At the peak of his popularity, the Dilbert character appeared in commercials and television cartoons, and was nearly as heavily merchandised as predecessors like Garfield or Snoopy.
In his later years, Adams made an unexpected foray into the world of politics.
He first made headlines by predicting that Donald Trump would win the 2016 presidential election.
Adams was later invited to the White House following the publication of his Trump-themed book Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter.
He continued to court controversy in the years that followed, and in 2020, “Dilbert” was dropped by hundreds of newspapers after Adams declared that Black Americans were “a hate group” and made numerous other racist remarks.
Adams continued to publish the comic strip online while steadily growing his influence among the far-right by posting incendiary remarks on social media.
At the time of his death, Adams had millions of followers across social media platforms.
Today, tens of thousands — including many who were disappointed by the comments Adams made in his later years — are paying tribute.