Scott Adams, the creator of the globally famous comic strip Dilbert, has died at the age of 68 following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer.
His former wife, Shelly Miles, confirmed the news during a livestream on Tuesday morning, reading a farewell statement Adams had written earlier this month while receiving hospice care at his Northern California home.
“If you are reading this, things did not go well for me,” Adams wrote. He reflected on his life with gratitude, urging readers to be useful, kind, and to pay forward any benefit they received from his work.
Adams publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis last year, explaining that the disease had spread to his bones. He later appealed for help after saying delays in treatment scheduling had reduced his remaining options. President Donald Trump responded at the time, promising assistance.
Following Adams’ death, Trump described him as a great influencer who stood by him when it was not popular to do so, praising his courage and resilience.
Born in Windham, New York, in 1957, Adams created Dilbert while working in corporate America. The comic strip debuted in 1989 and quickly became a cultural staple for office workers worldwide. At its peak, Dilbert appeared in thousands of newspapers across more than 70 countries..
The strip’s success expanded into books, merchandise, advertising partnerships, and an animated television series. Adams received the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award in 1997, one of the highest honors in cartooning.
In later years, Adams became a controversial figure after racist remarks made during a YouTube broadcast in 2023 led to Dilbert being dropped by most publishers. He later relaunched the strip online as a subscription product.
Despite the controversy, Adams remained a major figure in modern comic history, shaping how workplace culture was portrayed for generations of readers.
He is survived by family, friends, and millions of readers who followed his work for more than three decades.
