he spent the last five years of his life. Death and tributes A chain smoker of cigarillos for most of his life, the man whom fellow writer/producer Glen A. Larson referred to as "the spirit and soul of Star Trek, died in July 1973 of lung and throat cancer at the age of 49 just one week after being diagnosed. A possible cause of Coon’s cancer was radiation from Nevada bomb testing sites he visited with his mentor Gene Sherman and his first wife Joy in the 1950s. D. C. Fontana dedicated her novelization of The Questor Tapes to him. William Shatner dedicated a chapter in his 1993 memoir Star Trek Memories to him, titled "The Unsung Hero", in which he attributed many aspects of Star Trek to him. Leonard Nimoy did the same in his own memoir (I Am Spock), as did Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman with Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. In the closing credits of the 1999 Star Trek tribute film Free Enterprise, Gene Coon is referred to as "The Forgotten Gene" in recognition of his contributions to Star Trek, as well as his professional collaboration and personal relationship with his collaborator, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Works Television He worked as a writer on Dragnet, Bonanza, Zorro, Peter Gunn, Mr Lucky, Have Gun – Will Travel, Wagon Train, The Wild Wild West, The Four Just Men, Combat!, and McHale's Navy. Later his role was producer for The Wild Wild West. Films The Girl in the Kremlin (1957) Man in the Shadow (1957) No Name on the Bullet (1959) The Raiders (1963) The Killers (1964) First to Fight (1967) Journey to Shiloh (1968) The Questor Tapes (1974) Books By Gene L. Coon Meanwhile Back at the Front (New York: Crown, 1961. 309 pp.) A novel dealing with the improbable exploits of the Public Information Section of the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War. The Short End of the Stick (published 1964). A novel dealing with the lives and problems of American troops stationed along the DMZ in Korea after the war ended. It includes how they got along with and were treated by the native Koreans, focusing on sex and cultural clashes. It is also one of the earliest publications to discuss the drug problems of the bored occupation troops and how commanders dealt with them. See also References External links 1924