Scott Adams, the creator of the widely influential comic strip Dilbert, has died at the age of 68 following a battle with metastatic prostate cancer. The announcement came on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, from his ex-wife Shelly Miles during a livestream on the "Real Coffee with Scott Adams" channel, as well as from members of The Scott Adams School and his official social media channels. Adams' death marks the end of a career that spanned decades, shaped office culture, and sparked significant controversy in its later years.
Born in Windham, New York in 1957, Adams demonstrated an early passion for comics, beginning to draw at the age of six and citing the iconic Peanuts as an early influence. After earning a BA in economics from Hartwick College in 1979, Adams moved to California, where he worked a series of office jobs at Crocker National Bank. These included posts as a computer programmer, budget analyst, and bank teller—a role in which he was held at gunpoint twice, a harrowing experience he later recounted in his retrospective, "Dilbert 2.0," according to Rolling Stone and the San Francisco Chronicle. Adams would later pursue an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1986.
It was during his stint at Pacific Bell in the Bay Area that Adams conceived Dilbert, a satirical comic strip that would come to define the modern workplace for millions. The strip debuted in April 1989 through United Media and quickly resonated with readers, especially those in California's burgeoning tech industry. By 1994, Dilbert was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers, and by the end of the decade, it appeared in over 2,000 publications worldwide, according to Variety and the Los Angeles Times.
Adams’ work lampooned the absurdities of office life—clueless managers, endless meetings, and the frustrations of cubicle-bound employees. The strip’s humor struck a nerve, becoming a fixture on cubicle walls, PowerPoint presentations, and HR trainings across the U.S., particularly in California’s tech sector. As Adams told EE Times in 2005, "For the future of ‘Dilbert,’ you could say that the group I was in was a target-rich environment." The strip’s universal themes and the "blankness" of its protagonist, Adams believed, allowed readers from all backgrounds to see themselves in Dilbert’s shoes.
Adams’ success extended beyond the comic pages. In 1996, he published his first book, The Dilbert Principle, a satirical take on corporate management that became a New York Times bestseller. The following year, Adams received the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist and Best Newspaper Comic Strip. In 1999, Dilbert was adapted into an animated television series, for which Adams served as executive producer and showrunner. The show ran for two seasons on UPN and even earned a Primetime Emmy nomination. Over the years, Adams authored numerous other books, including self-help and pop-science titles, and published a steady stream of Dilbert desk calendars, computer games, and merchandise.
Yet, Adams’ later years were marked by mounting controversy. In the mid-2010s, he began to attract attention for his political commentary, particularly his praise for Donald Trump’s persuasive abilities. According to Rolling Stone, Adams described himself as an “ultraliberal” in earlier years but became a favorite among Trump supporters after accurately predicting Trump’s 2016 electoral victory. His podcast, "Real Coffee With Scott Adams," became a platform for conservative guests and right-wing viewpoints, further polarizing his audience.
The controversies escalated in 2022, when more than 75 newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams introduced the strip’s first Black character, using the character as a prop to satirize "wokeness." The following year, Adams made comments on his livestream labeling Black Americans as a "hate group" and advising white people to "get the hell away from Black people," in response to a questionable poll about perceptions of race. The backlash was swift: hundreds of newspapers, including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the entire USA Today network, dropped the comic. As USA TODAY Network stated, "recent discriminatory comments" by Adams "have influenced our decision to discontinue publishing his comic." Adams insisted his comments were intended as hyperbole, but he doubled down on his stance, framing himself as a casualty of cancel culture.
After being dropped by nearly all major syndicates in February 2023, Adams relaunched the strip as "Dilbert Reborn" on the subscription platform Locals, offering a "spicier version" directly to fans. He continued to write and, until late 2025, draw the strip, even as his health declined. In November 2025, Adams announced he could no longer illustrate due to cramping and partial paralysis in his hands, though he kept writing the scripts with assistance from his art director.
Adams’ battle with metastatic prostate cancer became public in May 2025, the same day President Joe Biden announced his own diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Adams described his outlook as grim, telling fans during a New Year’s Day broadcast, "The odds of me recovering are essentially zero." He was candid about his suffering, sharing, "Every day is a nightmare, and evening is even worse." Adams spent much of 2025 seeking access to experimental treatments, including the cancer drug Pluvicto, but his condition continued to deteriorate. By January 2026, he had lost all feeling in his legs and was experiencing ongoing heart failure.
In his final message to fans, shared by Shelly Miles, Adams reflected on his life and legacy: "I had an amazing life. I gave it everything I had. If I get 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." He also spoke of his gratitude for his family and the community that formed around his work and podcast, stating, "[The podcast] ended up helping lots of lonely people find a community that made them less lonely. Again, that had great meaning to me."
Adams’ personal life was marked by both joy and tragedy. He married Shelly Miles in 2006, becoming stepfather to her two children, Savannah and Justin. Justin died of a fentanyl overdose in 2018, a loss Adams discussed publicly. Adams and Miles divorced in 2014. He later married Kristina Basham in July 2020; the couple divorced in March 2022.
Scott Adams leaves behind a complicated legacy: a body of work that redefined how Americans—and especially Californians—saw their workplaces, and a public persona that sparked both admiration and outrage. His impact on office culture, humor, and the national conversation about free speech and cancel culture will be debated for years to come.
