Only one day after announcing that he was taking a “leave of presence” from reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times — for whom he wrote for 46 years — the Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic Roger Ebert has died from cancer. Ebert died Thursday morning, April 4, according to a family friend.

In addition to writing, Ebert for more than three decades was the co-host of one of the most powerful programs in television history, “At the Movies.” Ebert initially co-hosted with the late Gene Siskel, the movie critic for the Chicago Tribune, and, following Siskel’s death in 1999, with his Sun-Times collegue Richard Roeper.

In early 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. Ebert underwent further surgery on June 16, 2006, two days before his 64th birthday, to remove additional cancerous tissue near his right jaw, which included removing a section of jaw bone, and lost his voice permanently shortly thereafter.

Click here to read Ebert’s excellent essay, “I Do Not Fear Death.”