Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Dies at 68 After Cancer Battle

Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created the Dilbert comic strip, died Tuesday at age 68 after a battle with prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. His first ex-wife, Shelly Miles, shared the news during a live stream of his YouTube show, Real Coffee with Scott Adams, where he had appeared almost daily until his final days.

Background

Scott Adams grew up in a small town and went on to study at Hartwick College, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He later got an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1980s, he took office jobs at places like Crocker National Bank and Pacific Bell. Those jobs gave him plenty of material for his drawings. He would wake up early, before dawn, to sketch cartoons while holding down his day job.

Dilbert first showed up in newspapers on April 16, 1989. The strip followed a hapless engineer named Dilbert who dealt with a pointy-haired boss, lazy coworkers like Wally, a sharp engineer named Alice, an intern called Asok, and even a scheming cat named Catbert who ran human resources. Dogbert, Dilbert's super-smart dog, often stole the show with his biting comments. The comics took aim at the daily grind of office life: endless meetings, dumb rules, and bosses who cared more about charts than real work.

Over time, Dilbert became huge. It ran in hundreds of newspapers. Fans photocopied strips, emailed them around, and pinned them to cubicle walls. Adams won the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonist Society in 1997, one of the top honors in his field. That same year, Time magazine listed Dilbert as one of the most influential Americans, the first cartoon character to make the cut. The strip led to books that sold millions, calendars, mugs, and even a short-lived animated TV show where Daniel Stern voiced Dilbert. Adams wrote business books too, like How to Lose Almost Every Time and Still Win Big and Win Bigly.

Adams married Shelly Miles in 2006. She had two sons from before, and he helped raise them. The marriage ended in divorce in 2014, but they stayed close. Tragedy struck in 2018 when his stepson Justin died at 18 from an overdose. Adams said Justin had struggled with addiction after a bike accident at 14 left him with a head injury.

Key Details

Adams found out he had aggressive prostate cancer last year. In May 2025, on his YouTube show, he told viewers it was stage 4 and had spread to his bones, the same kind former President Joe Biden had. By then, he needed a walker and dealt with constant pain. He said he had no good days left. In December, he explained he was paralyzed from the waist down, though he could still feel things there.

Final Days and Message

Adams kept streaming his show right up to Monday. Friends helped him in his last days. On Tuesday, Shelly Miles went live and broke the news through tears.

"Hi everyone. Unfortunately this isn’t good news. Of course he waited until just before the show started, but he’s not with us anymore." – Shelly Miles

She read his final message. In it, Adams said he had an amazing life and gave it everything. He talked about his early years spent trying to be a good husband and father to find purpose. Later, he turned to helping the world through cartoons, books, and ideas he thought were useful. He urged people to be useful and said he loved them all to the end.

"Please know I loved you all to the very end." – Scott Adams, final message

In 2023, newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams made comments about race during a live stream. He called Black people a hate group and told white people to stay away. Outlets like the Los Angeles Times, USA Today papers, and his syndicator Andrews McMeel ended their work with him. Penguin Random House canceled a book called Reframe Your Brain and pulled his old titles. Adams said he would lose 80% of his income. He defended himself online, saying his points were about treating people as individuals and avoiding risks based on stats. He self-published the book later and dedicated it to his fans.

After that, Adams focused on YouTube. He built a big following there with daily talks on politics, life, and current events. He often praised former President Donald Trump. Trump posted about his death on Truth Social, calling him a fantastic guy who respected him when it was not popular. Vice President JD Vance said Adams was a true American original and a great ally to the administration.

Adams had made other comments over the years that drew fire. In 2011, he said society treats women like children or the mentally disabled because it is easier. In 2006, he questioned Holocaust death tolls on his blog. In 2020, he tweeted that losing the Dilbert TV show was his third job lost for being white, though he had blamed ratings before.

What This Means

Adams leaves behind a huge mark on how people see office work. Dilbert captured the frustration of cubicle life long before shows like The Office or movies like Office Space. Millions still remember the strips and how they nailed the absurdity of meetings and bad managers. His books on persuasion and success drew readers who wanted practical advice.

The end of Dilbert in newspapers marked a shift. It showed how quickly a long-running strip could vanish over one event. Adams turned to online fans, proving he could keep going without traditional media. His YouTube crowd grew, and he said his personal life got better. No one confronted him in person, and he found support from conservatives across races.

His cancer fight highlighted prostate issues. Men over 50 often face this, and Adams shared his story openly. He compared it to Biden's case and talked about the pain of bone spread. Doctors say early checks can help, but stage 4 is tough.

Fans filled comments on his last streams with thanks. Some said his ideas changed how they think about work and power. Others mourned the man who made them laugh at daily hassles. Adams often ended shows by asking people to be useful. That call seems to stick now more than ever.

His death comes at a time when cartoonists face new pressures. Social media speeds up backlash, and old-school papers struggle. Yet Dilbert lives on online, where archives keep the jokes alive. New creators might draw from his style, mixing humor with sharp takes on bosses and rules.

Adams summed up his path in that last note: from family man to cartoonist to thinker donating ideas to the world. His story shows one man's push against pain, cancellation, and illness until the very end.