After a long and difficult battle with colon cancer, co-creator of the longest running animated sitcom The Simpsons – Sam Simon has died.
Simon was surrounded by his family and his dog when he died. Simon was very public with his terminal condition after he was diagnosed back in 2012.
In a statement given to EW, Simpsons executive producer and current showrunner Al Jean said, “He had the quickest mind of almost anybody I’ve ever met. And there are a lot of really quick minds here. He just grasped things that became brilliant Simpsons staples and did them in a flash. He said, ‘Let’s imply that Smithers is in love with Burns but not make it a big deal and people are gonna catch on and it’ll be really cool.’ That kind of thing would just come out of him—a great idea all the time.”
Hank Azaria, who performs a slew of legendary Simspons characters like Kristy the clown, Apu and Chief Wiggum took to Twitter to express his thanks to Simon for creating one of the best shows of all-time.
Rest in peace and thank you for The Simpsons, Sam Simon.
— Hank Azaria (@HankAzaria) March 9, 2015
Thank you for making our fight possible, Sam Simon.
We will never quit. pic.twitter.com/mUPA77j9se
— PETA (@peta) March 9, 2015
The 9-time Emmy-winning writer & producer also served on other popular sitcoms like Taxi and was also a writer on Cheers. Simon was also a philanthropist and animal lover donated tens of millions of dollars to charity and started the Sam Simon Foundation. Simon was 59-years-old.
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