Scott Adams, the US cartoonist who wrote and illustrated the comic strip Dilbert, has died of cancer at the age of 68.
His ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his death on Tuesday during a live stream of his podcast, Real Coffee with Scott Adams.
The satirical cartoon strip – about a competent but frustrated engineer and his dysfunctional workplace environment – was first published in 1989, and went on to feature in more than 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries.
The character also later appeared in books, an animated TV series and video game. But in 2023, his comic strip was cancelled by newspapers including the Washington Post after Adams was accused of making racist comments about black people.
Adams called black Americans a “hate group” and suggested white Americans “get the hell away from black people,” in response to a conservative organisation’s poll purporting to show that many African-Americans do not think it is OK to be white.
He later defended his comments and said that he had been using hyperbole to make a point, adding that he disavowed racists and that media reports had ignored the context of his comments.
US President Donald Trump paid tribute to Adams on Truth Social, following news of his death: “Sadly, the Great Influencer, Scott Adams, has passed away. He was a fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so.
“He bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease,” Trump wrote.
A tearful Shelly told listeners at the start of Adams’s latest podcast on Tuesday: “He’s not with us anymore.”
She then read out a posthumous message from Adams: “I had an amazing life, I gave it everything I had.
“If I got any benefits from my work, I’m asking that you pay it forward as best as you can. That’s the legacy I want.
“Be useful, and please know I loved you all to the very end.”
In his later career, Adams – also a trained hypnotist – wrote self-help books including How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Win Bigly, Loserthink and Reframe Your Brain.
He had been receiving end-of-life care at his home after the prostate cancer, which he first revealed he had in May 2025, spread to his bones.
On 1 January this year, he told listeners that the chances of him making a recovery were unlikely.
“I’ll give you any updates if that changes, but it won’t,” he said.
“So there’s no chance that I’ll get my feeling back in my legs, and I’ve got some ongoing heart failure, which is making it difficult to breathe sometimes during the day.
“However, you should prepare yourself that January will probably be a month of transition, one way or another.”
