Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, died on January 13, 2026, at age 68. His former wife, Shelly Miles, announced his death in a livestream. Adams had disclosed in 2025 that he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, which the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times described as metastatic prostate cancer.
What happened to Scott Adams?
Adams died at 68 on January 13, 2026. The Associated Press reported that Miles announced his death during a livestream. The AP and the Los Angeles Times also reported that Adams had disclosed prostate cancer that had spread to his bones in 2025. These accounts report his public disclosure and the announcement of his death; they do not cite an official medical record.
![[(Dilbert 2.0 : 20 Years of Dilbert)] [By (author) Scott Adams] published on (November, 2008)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Sn6MM0RKL._SL160_.jpg)
In a farewell statement reported by the AP, Adams wrote, “I had an amazing life” and “I gave it everything I had.” The Guardian reported that Miles read another message from Adams aloud during the livestream: “My body fell before my brain. I am of sound mind as I write this, January 1, 2026.”
How Dilbert became a major workplace comic
Dilbert officially debuted on April 16, 1989. Adams used the strip to satirize corporate life, office bureaucracy and the frustrations of white-collar work. At its height, the strip appeared in 2,000 newspapers in at least 70 countries and 25 languages, according to the Associated Press in 2026. That figure describes its historical peak, not its current distribution.
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Adams’s work extended beyond the strip. His 1996 book The Dilbert Principle applied the comic’s workplace satire to corporate management, and he received the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award in 1997, the AP reported. Later in his career, he hosted the livestream and commentary program Real Coffee.
Why newspapers dropped Dilbert in 2023
In 2023, newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams made remarks describing Black people as members of a “hate group” and said he would no longer help Black Americans. Distributor Andrews McMeel Universal then ended its relationship with him, according to the AP and ABC News Australia. The AP reported that Adams later called his remarks hyperbolic while continuing to defend his position.
After the syndication break, Adams relaunched the strip as Dilbert Reborn through Rumble, the AP reported. The newspaper reach figures from the strip’s peak should not be read as a measure of that later distribution.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Adams’s legacy
Dilbert became a widely distributed portrait of corporate culture, while Adams’s public career also included books, livestreaming and political commentary. The 2023 controversy had direct professional consequences: newspapers stopped carrying the strip and its distributor severed ties. Those facts form part of the story of his later career alongside the comic’s earlier reach and influence.
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