John Hughes, a Hollywood director and writer who tapped mainly the youth market in the 1980s and 1990s with films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Home Alone, died Thursday. He was 59.

His spokeswoman, Michelle Bega, said that Hughes died of a heart attack during a morning walk in New York, where he was visiting some family.

A native of Lansing, Mich., who later moved to suburban Chicago and set much of his work there, Hughes rose from comedy writer to ad writer to silver screen champ with his affectionate and idealized portraits of teens, whether the romantic and sexual insecurity of Sixteen Candles, or the J.D. Salinger-esque rebellion against conformity in The Breakfast Club.

Hughes made stars out of Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, and Macauley Culkin.

“I was a fan of both his work and a fan of him as a person. The world has lost not only a quintessential filmmaker whose influence will be felt for generations, but a great and decent man,” Culkin said.