Steven Bochco, co-creator of 'NYPD Blue' and 'Murder in the First,' dies at 74

Steven Bochco, a television producer and writer who in the industry for the past 50 years, died Sunday morning, April 1. He was 74 years old.

The news was first broken by The Hollywood Reporter, learning of Bochco’s passing from Phillip Arnold, a family spokesman.

“Steven fought cancer with strength, courage, grace and his unsurpassed sense of humor,” Arnold said. “He died peacefully in his sleep [at home] with his family close by.”

Bochco had been fighting leukemia for several years, according to Variety. In 2014 he was given a transplant that was credited with prolonging his life.

Bochco was best known for helping to create such iconic television series such as NYPD Blue, Bay City Blues, Hill Street Blues, Hooperman, Civil Wars, L.A. Law, Murder One, Brooklyn South, Raising the Bar and Murder in the First. Working with multiple collaborators and co-creators, Bochco helped define what the modern TV crime drama would look like for years to come.

Throughout his entire career, Bochco received 10 Primetime Emmys, while being nominated for an additional 34.

Steven Bochco was notorious for refusing to comply with network executives, often getting into power struggles with co-workers.

“I began to hear words about myself: He’s arrogant, he’s this, he’s that,” Bochco said in a 2002 interview for the Archive of American Television when talking about Hill Street Blues. “My attitude was, call me what you will, but I know I have a great project here. I don’t know how many great projects there are going to be in my life, and I’m not going to screw this one up. I’d rather not do it. And they folded. They virtually folded on everything.”

Many believe these power splats were all part of his public genius, however, as Bochco’s work now lives on in infamy.

He is now survived by his third wife Dayna Kalins; his three children named Melissa Bochco, Jesse Bochco and Sean Flanagan; and two grandchildren.