Scott Adams, the creator of the long-running comic strip Dilbert, has died at the age of 68 following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. His death was announced Tuesday by his former wife, Shelly Miles, who shared a statement Adams had written in advance during a livestream. Adams had been receiving hospice care at his home in Pleasanton, California.

“If you are reading this, things did not go well for me,” Adams wrote in the message, dated January 1. Reflecting on his life and career, he added, “I had an amazing life. I gave it everything I had.” He encouraged readers who benefited from his work to “pay it forward,” calling that his desired legacy, and ended with a message of gratitude and love to his audience.

Adams’ death comes months after he publicly revealed his diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Though he initially hesitated to share his condition, he decided to speak openly after former President Joe Biden announced a similar diagnosis. Adams expressed compassion for Biden and described the disease as devastating and relentless.

In the final months of his life, Adams also made headlines for appealing directly to President Donald Trump for help. He claimed his health care provider had delayed access to a newly approved treatment and said his condition was rapidly worsening. Trump publicly responded that he would look into the matter and later, following Adams’ death, described him as a “great influencer” who “bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease.”

Born on June 8, 1957, in Windham, New York, Scott Raymond Adams grew up in the Catskills. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hartwick College and later an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. Before becoming a household name, Adams worked as a bank teller and later at Pacific Bell, where he began sketching what would become Dilbert—often doodling on notepads and office whiteboards.

The comic strip debuted in 1989 and quickly resonated with readers for its sharp satire of corporate culture, office politics, and bureaucratic absurdity. Dilbert became a defining portrayal of white-collar work life, running for decades in thousands of newspapers and spawning best-selling books, merchandise, and a television series. Adams was also an early digital pioneer, launching a website during the 1990s tech boom and engaging readers directly through email—an uncommon practice at the time.

Beyond comics, Adams built a large following through blogs, books, and online commentary, often weighing in on persuasion, psychology, and politics. In 2016, he correctly predicted Donald Trump’s presidential victory and later authored Win Bigly, a book analyzing Trump’s communication style. His political views and outspoken online presence increasingly defined his public image in later years.

That visibility also led to controversy. In 2023, most newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams made racist remarks during a YouTube broadcast. The comments sparked widespread backlash, and Adams refused to apologize, saying they were intentional. The fallout effectively ended Dilbert’s traditional syndication run, though Adams later relaunched the strip as a paid online project titled Dilbert Reborn.

Scott Adams leaves behind a complicated legacy—one marked by groundbreaking success in cartooning, early digital innovation, and polarizing public statements. To millions of readers, Dilbert captured the frustrations and humor of modern work life like few other comics ever had. In his final words, Adams asked not to be remembered solely for his illness or controversies, but for the impact of his work—and for others to “be useful” in carrying that impact forward.

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