Stan Lee, the famous writer, editor and publisher for Marvel Comics, died Monday morning at the age of 95, and several Santa Clarita residents have reacted with memories of both Lee and his comic creations.

Lee was taken by ambulance from his Los Angeles home on Monday morning to Cedar’s Sinai Medical Center, where he later died, according to Kirk Schneck, an attorney for Lee’s daughter, in a CNN report. The cause of death is not yet known.

Lee is survived by his daughter, J.C.

The comic book icon began working in the comic book industry in 1939, and would go on to create and co-create iconic characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men.

“In the early 90’s, when I was in high school in Burbank, there was a comic book store that opened up near me,” said Razmik Simonian, owner of Kimzar Kollectables, a local comic book and collectible store in Saugus. “I started reading Spider-Man and that’s how I got introduced to Stan Lee.”

Simonian got to meet Lee last year during L.A. Comic Con, then known as Stan Lee’s Comikaze Comic Expo, when he had set up a booth at the convention.

“He came into my booth with his entourage and looked around at my Marvel merchandise and commented on how great the selection was,” Simonian said. “I didn’t get an autograph from him, but I did get to meet and talk to him.”

Born Stanley Martin Lieber on Dec. 28, 1922, Lee grew up in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in the northern portion of the New York City town of Manhattan.

“Stan was just a regular guy,” said Paul Strickland Sr., a former member of the William S. Hart District School Board who worked for Lee in the 1990’s at his Westwood studio on the animated Spider-Man television series. “(He was) always encouraging all of us who worked with him.”

Strickland was the curator for Marvel animation sales in New York in 1995, and assembled worldwide products for Marvel at a facility in the Santa Clarita Industrial Center.

“I will miss him,” Strickland said. “I know that everyone who worked with him will also. He was an amazingly brilliant, beloved man.”

Many of Lee’s creations have made their way to the big screen, with several movies filmed in Santa Clarita, including all three Iron Man movies and the 2002 Spider-Man.

“Stan is the man,” Simonian said. “Without him, we wouldn’t be where we are today with pop culture and comic books. His work not only influenced the comic book industry, but all of culture today.”

A few years ago, Lee told reporters that he used to think his work hadn’t made a tremendous positive impact in the world, but that he later realized this was not the case.

“I used to think what I did was not very important,” Lee said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. “People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed.”

Some of the above information was provided to KHTS by CNN. KHTS is an affiliate of CNN.

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