The below was taken from a topic thread on Boardgamegeek.com. It has been verified as true. Gary Gygax has passed away.

"I have (had?) known Gary for something like 35 years and worked for him at TSR after mowing his lawn for years. Although best known for his work on Dungeons and Dragons, Gary preferred board games and miniatures. He was always a tough competitor and had a rapacious cackle when he pulled off the winning move.

His family let me know a few weeks ago he was ill and I was hoping to get back to visit my friend after the semester was done here.

His contribution to gaming and fantasy would be hard to estimate by any measure."