The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Sheldon Dorf, the founder of the San Diego Comic-Con died today at age 76 of complications from diabetes.

From it’s founding, Dorf spent 15 years as the head of the annual convention helping it grow from a small fan-fest into the powerhouse it is today.

“He was a completely generous person who was wholly devoted to furthering the comic arts, bringing the fans and the professionals together,” said J.M. “Mike” Towry, a computer programmer who was a young comics dealer at that first Con. “He never made a dime off Comic-Con.”

Dorf left running the convention in the mid-1980’s.  The Comic-Con International website was topped by a black-bordered photo of the founder as a memorial:

Shel Dorf’s love of comic books and their creators had no equal.  It was his appreciation of this art form and his keen foresight that helped to create what is Comic-Con.