Some incredibly sad news to report today. Per The Chicago Tribune, writer/director/actor Harold Ramis has died at the age of 69. Often taking a notable creative role in the projects he appeared in, he of course co-wrote as well as starred in Ghostbusters. He was also the writer and director of classics like Caddyshack and Groundhog Day. In addition, he directed the first installment of the National Lampoon’s Vacation series and was the writer of Animal House, Meatballs and Back To School. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg – Ramis was heavily involved in many other wonderful projects.

He had also been making a late career resurgence appearing in films like Knocked Up and Walk Hard. Not only did I immensely enjoy his work as a writer and director, I found his screen presence to be genuinely warm and human and I’m going to miss not seeing more of him.

According to the Tribune his death was a result of “complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels.” He had apparently been battling the disorder since 2010. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.