Ivan Reitman, 'Ghostbusters' Director and Celebrated Producer, Dead at 75

etonline.com:

reports.“Our family is grieving the unexpected loss of a husband, father, and grandfather who taught us to always seek the magic in life,” the filmmaker's children shared in a joint statement to on Sunday. «We take comfort that his work as a filmmaker brought laughter and happiness to countless others around the world.

While we mourn privately, we hope those who knew him through his films will remember him always.»One of Reitman's first big successes came in 1978 with the raunchy college comedy , which he produced.

The film became a comedy classic, and led to Reitman helming in 1979, where he directed Bill Murray in his first leading role.Reitman and Murray would go on to work together again in 1981 on before teaming up for the beloved comedy horror in 1984.

would go on to establish a franchise, with a sequel Reitman directed in 1989, followed by animated television shows, video games, a reboot/sequel — directed by Paul Feig and executive produced by Reitman — in 2016.The long-awaited follow-up,, was released last year and was helmed by his son, four-time Oscar nominee Jason Reitman.Additional directorial credits include (1988), (1990), (1993), (1994), (2001), (2006), the romantic comedy (2011), among others.His final directorial effort came in 2014, with the sports drama starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner.After news of Reitman's death broke, many stars and filmmakers took to social media to share tributes, as well as their condolences to Reitman's family.«Sending so much love to the great @JasonReitman for the loss of his amazing father Ivan,» director Paul Feig wrote. «Jason and Ivan have always been so supportive of me throughout my career and I’ll never be able to truly repay them both.