Comic-Con International founder Shel Dorf died in a San Diego hospital on Tuesday. He was 76. Dorf made numerous visits to the hospital earlier this year for diabetes treatments. Dorf is survived by his brother, Michael Dorf.

Dorf was a comic letterer and freelance artist in the comics industry. As a result, he befriended a number of prominent comic artists, including Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four, X-Men,The Incredible Hulk). He created Comic-Con with his friends as a way to publicly acknowledge comic book artists. However, he was not directly involved with the convention for the past two decades.

The first Comic-Con was held in 1970, and attended by 300 people. Attendance for this year's event topped 125,000 paying members, with estimates nearing 140,000.

We at Anime Dream offer our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Dorf.