The great George A. Romero, regarded by us horror fans as the “Godfather of the Dead”, has passed away Sunday after a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” reports the LA Times via the filmmaker’s longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero, who was 77 years old, died in his sleep while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s The Quiet Man, with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side, the family said. Romero created the zombie genre as the co-writer (with John A. Russo) and director of the 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead, which went to show future generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. Living Dead spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s sequels included 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, 1985’s Day of the Dead, 1990’s Land of the Dead, 2007’s Diary of the Dead and 2009’s Survival of the Dead. He had been developing the next installment in the Dead series, which was to be titled Road of the Dead and directed by Matt Birman. Romero also directed my absolute favorite vampire movie, 1978’s Martin, as well as 1973’s The Crazies, 1981’s Knightriders, 1982’s Creepshow, 1988’s Monkey Shines, 1990’s Two Evil Eyes, and 1993’s Dark Half. Romero was a titan in the horror genre and has left a void that will never be filled. He is immortal to us all as we’ll never forget what he did for the genre. We send our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family, while we as a horror community will mourn until the end of time. Updating…