Alan Sacks dead at 81: Welcome Back, Kotter co-creator passes away ‘peacefully’ after lymphoma battle

Alan Sacks passed away ‘peacefully’ at the age of 81 on Tuesday morning after a battle with cancer.

The co-creator of Welcome Back, Kotter, who was known for producing several Disney Channel projects, died of complications from lymphoma in his hometown of New York City.

He was first diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma 22 years ago and spent several years in remission before the cancer recurred.

He was being treated, but in recent weeks, his mantle cell lymphoma took an ‘aggressive’ turn, his wife, talent agent Annette van Duren, said in a statement, per Deadline.

Alan Sacks passed away ‘peacefully’ at the age of 81 on Tuesday morning after a battle with cancer . The co-creator of Welcome Back, Kotter, who was known for producing several Disney Channel projects, died of complications from lymphoma in his native New York City; pictured 2015 in Los Angeles

‘It was treated for him to dance at our daughter’s June wedding and walk her down the aisle,’ she said. ‘After that, the chemotherapy stopped being effective.’ 

She said Sacks started hospice care last week prior to his death.

‘He died peacefully listening to Tibetan music for the final few days and nights at age 81,’ she shared in her statement.

The film and television producer was known for co-creating the popular 1970s show, Welcome Back, Kotter, and working on several projects set in the punk scene of Los Angeles in the 1980s. 

He was born in Brooklyn and started his career in the research department of ABC Television before moving to Los Angeles. 

He continued working at ABC as a program executive and went on to help develop and co-create Welcome Back, Kotter along with Gabe Kaplan and Peter Meyerson. 

He based the hit sitcom on the lives of his high school friends from back in Brooklyn and the stand-up routine of Kaplan — who starred as Mr. Kotter.

It was based on Kaplan’s Holes and Mello-Rolls, which chronicled his formative days as a teenager in New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn.

The film and television producer was known for co-creating the popular 1970s show, Welcome Back, Kotter, and working on several projects set in the punk scene of Los Angeles in the 1980s; pictured February 2009 with Jim Gallagher in Hollywood

He was born in Brooklyn and started his career in the research department of ABC Television before moving to Los Angeles. He continued working at ABC as a program executive and went on to help develop and co-create Welcome Back, Kotter along with Gabe Kaplan and Peter Meyerson; pictured from left to right: Christopher Morgan, Alan Sacks, Kevin Hooks on August 26, 2000 in Pasadena

He based the hit sitcom on the lives of his high school friends from back in Brooklyn and the stand-up routine of Kaplan — who starred as Mr. Kotter; pictured from left to right: Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, John Travolta, Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, Gabe Kaplan in 1975 TV still

; pictured from left to right: Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, John Travolta, Robert Hegyes, Ron Palillo, Gabe Kaplan in 1976 TV still

The sitcom ran for four seasons starting in September 1975 until its last in June 1979. 

He also worked on Chico and the Man. In 1991, he created and produced Riders in the Sky, a Saturday morning children’s show which replaced the Pee-Wee Herman Show on CBS. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, Sacks produced made-for-TV movies including Women at West Point, Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story and A Cry for Love. 

In 80s he worked on a project about The Runaways, but when it never got off the ground, Sacks took the footage and incorporated it into a new plot.

He helmed the resulting film, Du-Beat-e-o, and released it in 1984 about a director working on a tight deadline to finish a movie about Runaways member Joan Jett.  

The film was set against the background of the hardcore punk scene in Los Angeles and also featured Ray Sharkey and Derf Scratch of the punk band Fear. 

Sacks also penned and produced the 1986 skateboarding film Thrashin’. 

The movie starred Josh Brolin, Robert Rusler and Pamela Gidley and included the Red Hot Chili Peppers’s first musical performance and appearance in a movie.