Iconic Hollywood actor, filmmaker and writer Harold Ramis, whose career highlights included Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Stripes and National Lampoon’s Animal House and Vacation, died overnight at age sixty-nine.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Ramis died from “complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis” surrounded by his friends and family. He’s survived by his wife, two sons and two grandchildren.
Bill Murray, who worked with Ramis on some of his most well-received films throughout the 80s and 90s, had been estranged from the actor for years following their work together on Groundhog Day – a period Ramis compared to having “a hole in my heart.” The two were reunited in the years before his death, with Murray today issuing a statement to TIME reading:
“Harold Ramis and I together did the National Lampoon Show off Broadway, Meatballs, Stripes, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him.”
