Scott Adams, creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip, who became controversial for his right-wing statements, has died following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. He was 68. Members of The Scott Adams School (formerly called Coffee With Scott Adams) shared the news of Adams’ death on Tuesday.

Adams revealed his cancer diagnosis in May, the same day former President Joe Biden announced he had an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer. “I have the same cancer that Joe Biden has. I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones, but I’ve had it longer than he’s had it — well, longer than he’s admitted having it,” Adams said. “I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer.”

Scott Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957, and started drawing comics at age 6. He cited Charles Schulz’ Peanuts as an early inspiration. His professional life began with a BA in economics from Hartwick College in 1979, moving to California that same year to begin his career. From 1979 to 1986, Adams held various office jobs at Crocker National Banker, including computer programmer, budget analyst and teller.

In 1986 he earned his MBA from UC Berkeley, and began working at Pacific Bell, during which time he created the Dilbert comic, the title of which was suggested by his former boss. Adams launched the comic with United Media while at Pacific Bell, and would go on to draw inspiration from his Pacific Bell coworkers for a number of the characters in the strip.

Dilbert was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers by 1994, and in 1995, Adams left his job at Pacific Bell to become a full-time cartoonist. In 1996, he published his first book, “The Dilbert Principle.” In 1997, Adams was awarded the National Cartoonists Society‘s Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist and Best Newspaper Comic Strip. In 1999, Dilbert became an animated TV series, with Adams as producer and showrunner. It rans for two seasons and was nominated for a 1999 Primetime Emmy.

The “Dilbert” comic strip was first published in 1989 and ran for decades. At its peak, it was one of the most widely circulated comic strips in the U.S., but many newspapers dropped it in 2023 after a racist rant by Adams appeared on YouTube.

Adams called Black Americans a “hate group” and suggested white Americans “get the hell away from Black people,” in response to a conservative organization’s poll purporting to show that many African-Americans do not think it is OK to be white.

He later backpedaled once faced with the consequences of his actions, saying that his comments were intended as hyperbole and that he disavowed racists, and said that media reports had ignored the context of his comments.

Um, yeah. Okay.

Adams married Shelly Miles in 2006 and was the stepfather to her two children, Savannah and Justin. Miles and Adams divorced in 2014. In December 2019, Adams announced his engagement to Kristina Basham. They married in July 2020 and divorced in March 2022.