Emmy Award-winning M*A*S*H screenwriter and producer Dan Wilcox passes away in Los Angeles at 82

Emmy Award-winning  screenwriter and producer Dan Wilcox has died aged 82.

Wilcox, who was best known for writing numerous M*A*S*H episodes including co-writing its iconic series finale in 1982, passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on February 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

His niece Julie Merson Rothenberg confirmed his death to the WGA but did not reveal his cause of death. 

As well as Merson Rothenburg, he is survived by his actress wife Leslie Easterbrook, 74, sister Nina Wilcox Merson and niece Wendy Merson Rich.

In 2017 Wilcox received the Morgan Cox Award honoring his service to the Writers Guild with WGAW President Howard A. Rodman saying at the time: ‘Dan Wilcox has been, in a sustained and deeply moving way, a voice for the voiceless. 

Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Dan Wilcox has died aged 82 (pictured 2017)

‘His work, at once passionate and effective, has been on behalf of those who might otherwise lack the power to make themselves fully heard.’ 

Wilcox – alongside Alan Alda, Burt Metcalfe, John Rappaport, Thad Mumford, Elias Davis, David Pollock and Karen Hall – wrote the M*A*S*H series finale, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, which was watched by a total audience of 121.6 million.

It is the most-watched finale and single episode of any television series in US history.