Harold Ramis died of complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis early Monday, according to his wife Erica Mann.

Harold Ramis' death came as a shock to many of his friends and colleagues in the industry, with majority taking time to express their support and condolences to the actor/director's family.

Dan Akroyd, who starred alongside Ramis in both Ghostbusters films, shared that he's "deeply saddened to hear of the passing of my brilliant, gifted, funny friend, co-writer/performer and teacher Harold Ramis. May he now get the answers he was always seeking."

Seth Meyers, Albert Brooks, Jon Favreau and Seth MacFarlane were among the comedians, actors and directors who quickly took to Twitter to mourn the late comedy star.

His wife, Erica Mann Ramis, told the Chicago Tribune he was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. Monday.

An actor, writer, director, producer and a gentleman – whose dry wit, long face and eyeglasses often had him compared to the legendary 1930s playwright George S. Kaufman, a compliment Ramis enjoyed – Ramis was born in Chicago and grew up idolizing the Marx Brothers, Sid Caesar and Ernie Kovacs.

Ramis' roots in humor date back to his college years at Washington University in St. Louis, when he wrote parodies for the stage. After graduating, he moved back to Chicago. And by the early '70s he was sharing the stage at Second City with John Belushi and other fellow collaborators, also launching skit comedy show "SCTV." In 1974, Ramis, Belushi, and Bill Murray moved to New York with other performers from the famed Chicago comedy troupe to do "The National Lampoon Radio Hour."

Ramis' big-screen break came when he wrote the seminal 1978 frat house comedy "National Lampoon's Animal House," starring Belushi. From there, Ramis wrote 1979's "Meatballs," starring his other creative collaborator, Bill Murray — with whom he would go on to "Caddyshack," "Stripes," "Ghostbusters," and "Groundhog Day."