Harold Ramis, Chicago actor, writer and director, dead at 69
Source: Chicago Tribune
Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with "Groundhog Day" acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984's "Ghostbusters" ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he’d launched his career as a Second City performer.
“There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local,” Ramis said upon the launch of the first movie he directed after his move, the 1999 mobster-in-therapy comedy “Analyze This,” another hit. “It's a good thing. I feel like I represent the city in a certain way.”
Ramis, a longtime North Shore resident, was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his wife Erica Mann Ramis said. He was 69.
Ramis’ serious health struggles began in May 2010 with an infection that led to complications related to the autoimmune disease, his wife said. Ramis had to relearn to walk but suffered a relapse of the vaculitis in late 2011, said Laurel Ward, vice president of development at Ramis’ Ocean Pictures production company.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-harold-ramis-dead-20140224,0,4983189,full.story
Damn. RIP.
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Director Harold Ramis visits the film site of "Groundhog Day" in Woodstock, Ill. as he welcomes attendants of the dedication of a plaque at the "Icy Puddle" Feb. 2, 1997. In the film, actor Bill Murray leaps over a puddle on Cass Street.
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Cross gently Harold. 
RIP Harold Ramis.
I loved the contrast between his scholarly look, and his deep baritone voice. I thought that was cool...
RIP, sir. You made me laugh...
"Well?? We're waiting!"
There's a good Biography Channel documentary on the making of that film. I seem to recall that Harold usually went home before the parties started, probably for his own sanity from what was revealed in that doc 
And Judge Smails has some of the best, and most famous lines.
A true comedy legend. What a loss.
He was great in SCTV.
I has a sad.
He will be missed for certain!!
(PS, the courthouse in the picture - background - is where I got married several decades ago.)
He will be missed...
"I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought" - Egon Spengler
I keep thinking about his coach in "Terminal Football," from the old National Lampoon Radio Hour, in which he has to break the news to practically the entire team (one at a time, of course) that they've all contracted some horrible, exotic, fatal disease.
"The point is this, Schnabel -- there are winners and losers in the game. . ."
Gad, what bad news.
And Harold, director of the greatest sports movie ever: Caddyshack
Thank you for sharing your edge (and big heart) with the rest of us Mr. Ramis. In your honor...
I loved Ghostbusters because Murray, Ackroyd and Ramis were SO SERIOUS and spouting pseudoscientific babble.
That made it funny. And on a level too deep for some people to get.
"This chick is toast!"
"You don't usually see this kind of demonic activity in a major kitchen appliance." 
He'll be missed.
People like Ramis who spread laughter and happiness instead of war and terror...
Not fair.
Just damn. Ya done good Harold, real good.
A class 5 full roaming vapor in your honor-->
and this:
He always seemed like the sweetest guy - whip-smart, and not a mean bone in his body.
I had no idea he was suffering such an illness. What a loss!