It’s with a heavy heart that we bring you the news that SDCC co-founder Sheldon “Shel” Dorf has passed away at age 76. Sheldon Dorf, co-founded the world famous Comic-Con International comic book convention in San Diego in 1970 after moving from Detroit.

A longtime friend, Greg Koudoulian, says the Dorf died at a San Diego hospital on Tuesday from kidney failure. He had diabetes and had been hospitalized for about a year.

Dorf, a freelance artist and comic strip letterer watched Comic-Con grow from a small collection of comic book hobbyists to one of the biggest public relations events of the year for movies, TV shows, comic books, video games and other forms of entertainment.

Koudoulian says Dorf was friends with comic greats such as Marvel artist Jack Kirby and “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz and that he was instrumental in helping budding artists find audiences.