“We lost our brother Danny yesterday. He was a special and irreplaceable man – an incredible son, brother, uncle and friend. Our hearts are broken,” his sister, Gail McGrath Garabadian wrote.

According to her statement to The Hollywood Reporter, McGrath passed away Friday at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn following a stroke.

McGrath was known for his contributions to The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, Gravity Falls and Mission Hill. He started his career on Saturday Night Live in 1991, working with such talents as Adam Sandler and Chris Farley.

Born on July 20, 1964 in Brooklyn, McGrath graduated from Harvard University, where he served as vice president of the Harvard student humor magazine Lampoon. During his career in The Simpsons, he wrote 50 episodes (1992–1994) and received production credits for another 24 episodes (1996–1998).

Some of the best-known episodes he wrote include Homer’s Phobia, for which he won an Emmy in 1997, as well as Boy-Scoutz n the Hood, The Devil and Homer Simpson, and Time and Punishment. McGrath was also nominated for other prestigious awards, including an SNL Emmy and the Writers Guild Award for Life: A Loser’s Manual.

During his career, McGrath left The Simpsons twice, but continued working on Mission Hill and then spent nearly a decade on King of the Hill, where he wrote 11 episodes and received production credits for 28 more (2002–2010).

His family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, people make gifts to Regis High School, his former school.