Gary Gygax

Game Designer. Born Ernest Gary Gygax in Chicago, the only son of Almina Burdick and Swiss immigrant, Martin Gygax, a musician. He attended the University of Chicago, but never took a degree, taking instead a job as an insurance underwriter. A history buff, he began playing military strategy games, but wanted a game with more fantasy elements. He left the insurance business and took a job as a shoe repairman in order to allow himself time for game development. In 1966, he was part of the foundation of the International Federation of Wargamers, and organized a gaming meet in his basement in 1967, which later became known as Gen Con 0. In 1971, he and Jeff Perren wrote 'Chainmail,' a miniatures war game. He and Don Kaye then founded a publishing company, Tactical Studies Rules, in 1973, and published the first version of 'Dungeons & Dragons' in 1974. In 1977, a revised version of 'D&D' was created and dubbed 'Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' shortly after the death of Kaye which left Gygax in control of TSR. He received the Charles S. Roberts Award for excellence in historical war gaming in 1980. In 1983 he co-wrote and produced the animated television series 'Dungeons & Dragons.' In 1985, vicious corporate in-fighting cost him control of TSR, so he sold his remaining stake in the company. After leaving TSR, he created the role playing games 'Dangerous Journeys' and 'Lejendary Adventure,' as well as the 'Greyhawk' series of adventure novels, contributing the first two novels of the series; 'Saga of Old City' and 'Artifact of Evil.' He also created the Gord the Rogue series culminating in 'Night Arrant: A Collection of Short Stories Featuring Gord, His Friends, and His Foes.' He suffered two strokes in the spring of 2004, but recovered enough to return to the 'Dungeons & Dragons' universe to aide in the creation of the 'Castles & Crusades,' the name of which was drawn from the Castle & Crusade Society founded by Gygax pre-Dungeons & Dragons, and in December 2004, the first printing of the Players Handbook was released. His health remained fragile, however, and he was diagnosed with an inoperable abdominal aneurysm. Still active in the gaming community, he hosted forums on gaming websites and a weekly in person game at his home. He succumbed to poor health at at his home at age 69.