Scott Adams, Creator of the Satirical ‘Dilbert’ Comic Strip, Dies at 68

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Scott Adams, whose experience as a bank and phone company middle manager gave him the material to create the comic strip “Dilbert,” a daily satire of corporate life that became a sensation but was dropped by more than 1,000 newspapers after he made racist comments on his podcast in 2023, died on Tuesday at his home in Pleasanton, Calif., in the Bay Area. He was 68.

His former wife Shelly Adams confirmed his death, saying he had been receiving hospice care. Mr. Adams announced in May that he had aggressive prostate cancer and that he probably had only a few months to live.

For more than 30 years, “Dilbert” chronicled the absurdities of the high-tech workplace and skewered management. The title character was a frustrated engineer working from a cubicle at a high-tech company whose intelligent, anthropomorphic pet, Dogbert, dreamed of world domination. Other characters included Dilbert’s co-workers, Alice, Asok and Wally; the hapless Pointy-Haired Boss; and Catbert, the fire-red-colored cat and evil head of human relations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/arts/scott-adams-dead.html

I used to love that cartoon when I was a techie. I could definitely relate to the Dilbert character.
 

The Dilbert character was a software engineer. Scott Adams was a mid-level manager before he became a full-time cartoonist. The cartoon made fun of managers like what Scott was in real life! Hmmm.

What would that be? Hypocrisy? Dunning-Kruger effect?

I used to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was one of the good managers. But then came the racist and antisemitic comments that were just plain ignorant, so no, he was an a-hole and probably an incompetent manager.
 


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