was surrounded by family at his North Shore home when he died overnight from a rare autoimmune inflammatory disease
Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis, one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy film-makers, has died.
The actor turned director was 69 when he passed away after battling a long illness.
He found global fame playing bespectacled doctor Egon Spengler in the 1984 box office hit Ghostbusters.
However off screen he wrote some comedy blockbusters including Caddyshack, Groundhog Day and the National Lampoon series.
His health problems began in mid-2010, after surgery for the digestive disease diverticulitis which brought on complications related to his autoimmune disease.
He spent four months learning to walk again at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, before transferring to a rehabilitation facility in Chicago.
However after undergoing gruelling physiotherapy he relapsed 18 months later and never completely recovered.
Ramis leaves behind three children and his second wife.
His daughter Violet to his first wife, Anne, and sons Julian Arthur and Daniel Hayes with his second wife, Erica Mann.
Actor and Ghostbusters co-star Bill Murray is Violet Ramis’s godfather.
Born in Chicago he was an avid baseball fan supporting his local team the Chicago Cubs.