Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, dies at 68 after battle with cancer

Time reports Scott Adams, the cartoonist best known for creating the office-set strip Dilbert and later a conservative commentator and podcaster, died on Tuesday at age 68 after a battle with cancer. His first wife and caregiver, Shelly Adams, announced via livestream that he died while in hospice care at his Northern California home.

Adams launched Dilbert in 1989 and at its peak the strip appeared in around 2,000 newspapers across at least 70 countries and 25 languages; he won the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award in 1997 and a Dilbert animated series premiered in 1999. In recent years he shifted to books and a daily podcast and publicly disclosed last year that his prostate cancer had spread to his bones, appealed to President Trump for help with treatment, and later said he had been approved for Pluvicto before reporting treatment delays and then paralysis below the waist.

Public figures paid tribute: President Trump posted on Truth Social calling Adams “the Great Influencer,” Elon Musk eulogized him on X, and others including Donald Trump Jr. and Vice President J.D. Vance offered condolences. Adams left a final message urging people to “be useful” and to pay forward any benefits they received from his work; his career was also marked by controversy in 2023 after remarks that led several newspapers and a publisher to drop Dilbert and his book release.

Key Topics

Culture, Scott Adams, Dilbert, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Pluvicto