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Scott Adams, best known for creating the comic strip Dilbert, has died at 68 after a battle with prostate cancer. The announcement came on January 13 during a live broadcast of Coffee with Scott Adams, when his ex-wife, Shelly Miles, confirmed his death and read a goodbye message he had written earlier this month.
"If you are reading this, things did not go well for me," Adams wrote in the message, dated January 1, 2026. "My body failed before my brain. I am of sound mind as I write this." He reflected on his life and career, adding, "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."
Adams launched Dilbert in 1989, drawing on his experiences as an engineer at Pacific Bell. The comic, which followed a frustrated office worker navigating the quirks and chaos of corporate life, gained immense popularity during the 1990s. At its peak, Dilbert appeared in more than 1,000 newspapers across dozens of countries and spawned bestselling books, merchandise, greeting cards and an animated television series that won a Primetime Emmy Award.
He later explained that much of the strip's material came directly from readers. "Most of the ideas I use are from e-mail," he once said. "It's like tapping into this great collective consciousness." Adams left his corporate job in 1995 to focus on the comic full time, crediting what he called his "cubicle-eye perspective" for its widespread appeal.
However, Adams' career took a sharp turn in 2023 after comments he made on his YouTube show sparked widespread backlash. Discussing a poll about racial attitudes, he referred to Black Americans as a "hate group" and advised white people to "get the hell away from Black people." Following the remarks, hundreds of newspapers dropped Dilbert, and its distributor severed ties with him. Adams continued publishing the strip online independently.
In May 2025, Adams revealed he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. By January 2026, he said his chances of recovery were "essentially zero," adding that he had lost feeling in his legs and was experiencing heart failure.
Born in Windham, New York, in 1957, Adams often credited his mother for encouraging his ambitions. "She said I could be president. I wanted to be Charles Schulz," he once said. Despite later controversies, Dilbert remained one of the most recognizable workplace satires of its era, cementing Adams' lasting — and contentious — place in popular culture.
