Ernest Gary Gygax (/ˈɡaɪɡæks/ GHY-gaks; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson. Description above from the Wikipedia article Gary Gygax, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.