'Simpsons' co-creator, philanthropist Sam Simon dies at 59
Sam Simon, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" and animal-権利s 支持する who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s, has died.
Simon died Sunday at his home in 太平洋の Palisades, Calif., his スパイ／執行官, Andy Patman said. He was 59.
He was 診断するd with 前進するd 結腸 癌 in 2011.
FILE - This Aug. 12, 2013 とじ込み／提出する photo shows Sam Simon, co-creator of "The Simpsons," at his home in 太平洋の Palisades, Calif. Simo n, who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s 含むing animal 福利事業, has died Sunday, March 8, 2015, after a long 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 with 癌. He was 59. (AP Photo/Frazier Moore, とじ込み／提出する)
After stints 令状ing for "Taxi," ''元気づけるs" and "The Tracey Ullman Show," Simon helped 開始する，打ち上げる "The Simpsons." During his 令状ing and producing career, he collected nine prime-time Emmy awards.
He left "The Simpsons" after its fourth season under a 取引，協定 that rewarded him with 現在進行中の 王族s from the show, which is now in its 26th season.
He then 設立するd the Sam Simon 創立／基礎, which 救助（する）s dogs from animal 避難所s and trains them to 補助装置 the 無能にするd. He also 寄付するd to Mercy for Animals and the Sea Shepherd 自然保護 Society, の中で other groups. In 2013, People for the 倫理的な 治療 of Animals' Norfolk, Va., （警察，軍隊などの）本部 were christened the Sam Simon 中心 in 承認 of his support for that organization.
Simon also 基金d a Los Angeles food bank.
In an interview with The Associated 圧力（をかける） in 2013, Simon 発言する／表明するd a 願望（する） to spend all of his money on charitable 原因（となる）s.
"I'm supporting the charities that I supported during my lifetime," he said, "and I want to continue to do that."
Simon had grown up in Beverly Hills across the street from Groucho Marx, though his father was in the 衣料品 産業, not show 商売／仕事.
After turning his 製図／抽選 talent into a 職業 at an 活気／アニメーション studio that made 風刺漫画s for kids, Simon submitted a script, on spec, to the ABC comedy "Taxi." His script was bought and produced, and Simon, in his 20s, was 雇うd as a staff writer and soon rose to be the showrunner.
< font style="font-size:1.2em;">From there he joined a new NBC sitcom called "元気づけるs," where he was staff writer for its defining first three seasons.
In 1987 he became a writer and (n)役員／(a)執行力のある 生産者 on the Fox sketch-comedy series "The Tracey Ullman Show," where he was teamed と一緒に James L. Brooks, with whom he had worked on "元気づけるs" and "Taxi," and 漫画家 Matt Groening.
This trio became the 設立するing fathers of "The Simpsons."
On Monday, Groening saluted Simon's "phenomenal talents, sharp 知能 and sly sense of humor," while Brooks called him "truly one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ones. He 設立する so much outside the work to give him 楽しみ and left so much behind for others."
"The Simpsons" began as interstitial 風刺漫画 clips 空気／公表するd during the さもなければ live-活動／戦闘 "Ullman" show until, in 1989, it was spun off as a Fox half-hour of its own. Simon was 指名するd creative 監督者, and he 雇うd the first 令状ing staff 同様に as creating several Springfield 国民s, 含むing Mr. 燃やすs, the cadaverous industrialist, and Dr. Hibbert, the buffoonish 内科医.
The show ― TV's first successful prime-time animated series since "The Flintstones" nearly three １０年間s before ― caught the public off-guard with its sassy but perceptive look at the culture and opened the door for a new television genre of 活気／アニメーション geared toward adults.
"With 'The Simpsons,' people didn't know what they were gonna see," said Simon. "They didn't have a 手がかり（を与える）." The show was given time and 解放する／自由な 統治する to 繁栄する by the fledgling Fox 網状組織, which 猛烈に needed a 攻撃する，衝突する. "I don't think you get that sort of creative freedom with any broadcast shows today."
Simon left "The Simpsons" in 1994 借りがあるing to a 緊張するd 関係 with Groening. Not only did he not play any その後の 役割 in the series, he （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to never have watched it after stepping away, even as his 指名する remained in the 週刊誌 credits along with Groening's and Brooks'.
It was a lucrative 出発. Simon's 出口 取引，協定 する権利を与えるd him to 王族s from "The Simpsons" that, more than a ４半期/4分の1-century later, 毎年 paid Simon tens of millions of dollars.
That annuity bankrolled the 原因（となる）s and 代案／選択肢 lifestyle (含むing amateur ボクシング?and high-火刑／賭けるs poker) that ますます he （機の）カム to embrace.
"I'm not sad," Simon 宣言するd in 2013, as he 戦う／戦いd an illness that his doctors were 説 might （人命などを）奪う，主張する him within months. "I'm happy. I don't feel angry and bitter. I want to do whatever I can to 生き残る."
In this undated publicity photo 解放（する）d by Fox, characters from the animated series, "The Simpsons," from left, Maggie, Marge, Lisa, ホームラン and Bart, are shown. Simon, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s 含むing animal 福利事業, died Sunday , march 8, 2015, after a long 戦う／戦い with 癌. He was 59. (AP Photo/Fox)
FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2014 とじ込み／提出する photo, Sam Simon arrives at the Writers Guild Awards, in Los Angeles. Simon, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s 含むing animal 福利事業, has died Sunday, March 8, 2015, after a long 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 with 癌. He was 59. (Photo by Tonya Wise/Invision/AP, とじ込み／提出する)
FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2014 とじ込み／提出する photo, Sam Simon arrives at the Writers Guild Awards, in Los Angeles. Simon, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s 含むing animal 福利事業, has died Sunday, March 8, 2015, after a long 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 with 癌. He was 59. (Photo by Tonya Wise/Invision/AP, とじ込み／提出する)
FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2014 とじ込み／提出する photo, Sam Simon arrives at the Writers Guild Awards, in Los Angeles. Simon, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" who made a midlife career 転換 into philanthropy and channeled much of his personal fortune into social 原因（となる）s 含むing animal 福利事業, has died Sunday, March 8, 2015, after a long 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 with 癌. He was 59. (Photo by Tonya Wise/Invision/AP, とじ込み／提出する)
