Short answers, pulled from the story.
Gary Gygax was an American game designer born on the 27th of July, 1938, who co-created Dungeons and Dragons with Dave Arneson. TSR released the first commercial version of D&D in January 1974, and it became the foundational tabletop role-playing game. Gygax also co-founded the Gen Con gaming convention and created Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in 1977.
Gygax founded Tactical Studies Rules in October 1973 with childhood friend Don Kaye, each investing $1,000. A third partner, Brian Blume, invested $2,000 to provide the capital needed to print the game, and TSR released the first commercial D&D boxed set in January 1974. The first hand-assembled print run of 1,000 copies sold out in less than a year.
Gygax was progressively displaced from TSR as the Blume family acquired shares that reduced him from majority to minority shareholder. He hired Lorraine Williams to stabilize the company after discovering it was $1.5 million in debt despite grossing $30 million; Williams then bought the Blumes' shares and replaced him as president and CEO in October 1985. Gygax resigned from all positions at TSR in October 1986 after his legal challenge to block the share sale failed.
After leaving TSR, Gygax founded New Infinities Productions in 1986, which published Gord the Rogue novels and the RPG Cyborg Commando (1987) before going bankrupt in 1989. He then developed Dangerous Journeys, released in 1992 by Game Designers' Workshop, but TSR sued and ultimately purchased the full rights. His final major gaming system was Lejendary Adventures, published in 1999 through his partnership Hekaforge Productions.
Gygax had two strokes in April 2004, which reduced his working capacity from 14-hour days to one or two hours per day. He was also diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, and while surgeons recommended an operation, he refused, believing he would likely die on the operating table. He died in March 2008 at age 69.
Gary Con is an annual role-playing game convention held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, each March in honor of Gary Gygax. It grew from a spontaneous gathering of mourners at Lake Geneva's American Legion Hall on the day of Gygax's funeral in 2008, when attendees played games in his honor. Gygax's son Luke Gygax organized that event into a formal annual convention, and the funeral day gathering is now referred to as Gary Con 0.