Former Star Trek: The Next Generation producer and Oscar-nominated script writer Robert Lewin died of lung cancer on August 28 at his Santa Monica home. He was 84.

Lewin, who served in the Army during World War II, used his military background as inspiration for his writing, notably the Academy Award-nominated screenplay "The Bold and the Brave."

Star Trek fans will know Lewin by his first season producer credit and his co-writing such episodes as "Datalore," "11001001," "The Arsenal of Freedom" and "Symbiosis." Although he took the TNG job without knowing much about Star Trek or science fiction, Lewin was brought on board at the behest of producer Robert Justman, who was familiar with his exceptional abilities as a great character writer.

A Yale graduate and native of New York, Lewin began his career as a journalist before moving on to screenwriting.

Lewin later found success in the television field and wrote or produced shows such as Mission: Impossible, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and The Fugitive. His skills garnered the Writers Guild of America best-writing awards in 1968 and 1969 for episodes of the acclaimed series "Judd for the Defense." 

Besides TNG, Lewin also produced TV shows such as the Emmy-nominated "The Paper Chase" and "Baretta."