Joe Ruby, a four-time Daytime Emmy winner, died at the age of 87 Wednesday, his grandson announced.
Ruby is best known as the co-creator of Scooby-Doo, which began airing in 1969.
Ruby created the character, and the original TV show, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! alongside Ken Spears when they were sound editors and writers at Hanna-Barbera, an animation powerhouse that created television mainstays like The Flintstones and The Jetsons.
The pair wrote all but four of the original 25 episodes.
In the 1970s, Ruby and Spears supervised the cartoon lineup for CBS and later ABC, where they worked under the subsidiary Filmways, which produced Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Prior to his time in the animation business, Ruby served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years Carole, as well as his four children and 10 grandchildren.