Sam Simon, one of the executive producers of The Simpsons (arguably one of the greatest television shows of all time, although he left in 1993 he is still credited as such) has passed away after a three year battle with colon cancer. As well as his credit on the Simpsons, he had a very successful career, writing for shows such as Mighty Mouse, Fat Albert andThe George Carlin Show, as well as directing a fair few episodes of Friends and most recentley Anger Management. He amassed a fortune of over $70 million, which he split up and gave almost all of it to various charitable causes. He claimed he had more money that he'd ever spend and that there were people that could use it for more. For anybody who grew up watching The Simpsons, or still watches it today, this makes for very sad news; I don't think any show has had more influence on modern pop culture than The Simpsons have and it's credit to his ability as a writer and as a creative to have something out there that has had such an impact on multiple generations. One of my favourite scenes from the show was proposed, written and directed by him (this is from the game, can't find a clip of the original):
He also created Mr. Burns. "I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?" RIP