A longtime television writer, director and producer is dead at 84. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Theodore J. Flicker, who co-created the hit ABC cop sitcom “Barney Miller,” died Friday at his home in Santa Fe.

His wife, Barbara Flicker, told the publication that he had suffered from hypersensitivity pneumonitis. She said she believed the ailment, also known as “hot tub lung,” was brought on by his work with clay as a sculptor.

Just hours before his death, they had attended his art show, during which she said he looked “wonderful, and he felt wonderful, and he just crashed,” the article reports.

Flicker and Danny Arnold co-created the 1975-1982 comedy series “Barney Miller.” He also directed TV shows including “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “I Dream of Jeannie” and “The Mod Squad.”

He received a Writers Guild Award nomination for his screenplay for the 1967 film “The President’s Analyst,” and he also directed and co-wrote the 1964 film “The Troublemaker.”

Theodore J. Flicker
(photo courtesy Barbara Flicker)