Ron Goulart, the prolific author whose books included a series of novels featuring Groucho Marx as a private detective, has died at 89, the New York Times reports.

Goulart, a California native, worked in advertising before publishing his first books in the late 1960s. His earliest novels included works of science fiction like After Things Fell Apart and Gadget Man.

He wrote more than 180 books in a wide variety of genres. He collaborated with William Shatner on the Tek series of science-fiction novels, although the Times reports that, according to his family, Goulart did all the writing himself.

In 1998, he published the first of his Groucho Marx mysteries, Groucho Marx, Master Detective; five more novels in the series would follow.

Goulart’s widow, Frances Sheridan Goulart, told the Times that her husband was seldom at a loss for ideas.

“He might have gotten writer’s block at some point, but it didn’t last long,” she said. “He would just switch from one genre to another if he got stuck.”

Goulart’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. “We lost another of the greats,” tweeted writer Ian Martínez Cassmeyer. “#RonGoulart, one of the funniest SF writers out there, passed away at 89 years old on the 14th this month…He may be gone, but he's not forgotten.”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.