Peter S. Fischer Dies: ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Co-Creator & ‘Columbo’ Writer Was 88

Veteran television producer and writer Peter S. Fischer, best known for co-creating the CBS crime drama Murder, She Wrote, has died. He was 88.

According to his grandson, Jake McElrath, Fischer passed away on Monday, October 30, at a care facility in Pacific Grove, California. A cause of death was not specified.

Born on August 10, 1935, Fischer studied drama at Johns Hopkins University and initially had ambitions of becoming an actor. “I went to summer stock and found out I was not an actor,” he said in a 2011 interview. “So I decided I’d become a writer.”