Ryan Reynolds and More Remember Roseanne Producer and Writer Eric Gilliland After He Dies at 62

Tributes have been pouring in for longtime TV writer and producer Eric Gilliland, who died from complications of cancer at 62 on Sept. 1.

"He was kind. And gentle. And funny as hell. And incapable of holding a conversation that was cruel or tore someone down. It’s a tragedy he’s gone and a tragedy more people won’t have the chance to know him," Ryan Reynolds wrote on his Instagram.

From there, the Deadpool star recalled how the pair became instant friends upon meeting each other. Their friendship lasted for nearly three decades.

"I traveled all over the world with Eric," Reynolds continued. "He introduced me to Vaudeville and Jack Benny and welcomed me into his friend circle of impossibly talented writers and performers. He was my university."

Gilliland was a TV writer best known for his work on Roseanne between 1992 and 1996. He eventually became the executive producer of the series, and later became a consulting producer for shows like That '70s Show, The Connors and My Boys. But he was perhaps better known for his wide-ranging group of friends from all aspects of his life, who often gathered in his storied West Village townhouse, especially for his annual Glogg party at Christmas every year.

"It was a rager," says friend and former food TV producer Angie Peccini, who had her wedding at Gilliland's home. "He had a local family come play jug music, and everyone would be singing, the fire roaring. The annual invite that he emailed was always highly anticipated, and it was always very funny and well written of course."

Recalling her friend, she continues, "Eric's gift wasn't that he was incredibly smart and funny and warm and talented, his gift was that he made you feel that way."

"It just felt so good to be around him. I look at his Facebook page with all the tributes pouring in and realize, Eric was the ultimate connector. There was enough of him to go around for everyone. But now that he's gone, I think a lot of us are wondering what we're going to do without him."

Longtime friend and Campside Media producer Mark McAdam, who first met Gilliland when he was a writer's assistant on Roseanne, tells PEOPLE: "Eric was the Pied Piper of friendship. He had an easy way of connecting people from every walk of life: teachers, chefs, artists, West Village regulars, and Hollywood royalty, and he made us all feel equally funny and special."

McAdam adds, "If you said something that made him laugh, he'd give you a dollar bill. And it was the best money you ever earned. Because he was brilliant and hilarious."

Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan, who went to middle school with Gilliland, shared a sentimental statement on Facebook.

"Eric and I bonded back in 8th grade, over our mutual love for The Dick Van Dyke Show. And Monty Python, Jack Benny, The Carol Burnett Show, SNL, and bad puns. (Yes, people, we started a pun club). Eric was just plain smart and funny," he wrote, adding that Gilliland would have taken "a perverse pleasure in knowing that, of all people, he was outlived by Dick van Dyke."

Actress Martha Plimpton also shared memories of Gilliland on her Instagram.

"I don’t have the ability to find the older pictures right now," she wrote. "I don’t know entirely what to do with myself. Today is harder. The world is a less happy and laughter filled place without my friend, Eric Gilliland."

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Peccini notes that the staff at the hospital where Gilliland spent his final days commented on how many visitors he had coming and going each day.

"It was a revolving door until the very end," she says.