President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday remembered actor and writer Harold Ramis, a fellow Chicagoan, for being one of the greatest satirists and comedic geniuses of his generation.
“When we watched his movies – from “Animal House” and “Caddyshack” to “Ghostbusters” and “Groundhog Day” – we didn’t just laugh until it hurt,” Obama said in a written statement. “We questioned authority. We identified with the outsider. We rooted for the underdog. And through it all, we never lost our faith in happy endings.”
The Obamas also sent well wishes to “all those who loved him, who quote his work with abandon, and who hope that he received total consciousness.”
Ramis died on Monday at age 69.