Comedy Genius Harold Ramis Passes Away at the Age of 69

If the only good thing Harold Ramis had ever done was co-write and star in Ghostbusters he'd be a comedy legend. However, he gave us so much more than that.

Animal House? Harold Ramis wrote it. Caddyshack? Wrote and directed it. Groundhog Day? Wrote and directed it. National Lampoon's Vacation? Directed it. Stripes? Wrote and starred in it.

People will be watching those movies as long as people watch movies. They're classic Hollywood comedies, and Ramis was behind them all in one way or another.

Sadly, today the world lost Harold Ramis. He passed away in Chicago, with his family by his side, at the age of 69. According to his wife, Erica Mann Ramis, he had battled from a rare disease called autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis since 2010. This condition causes swelling of the blood vessels, and early this morning he finally lost that battle.

In recent years Ramis' work had fallen off a bit. The Ice Harvest was forgettable, and Year One was an epic flop. However, he'll always be remembered for the classics and, more importantly, for being a genuinely good guy in an industry full of pompous a-holes.

Read the full obit by his hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, here.