Hollywood director and producer Ivan Reitman has died at the age of 75.

As his family announced, he passed away last Saturday.

Reitman was successful in the 1980s and 1990s with blockbusters such as Ghostbusters, Twins and Kindergarten Cop.

He had just handed over the production staff of "Ghostbusters" to his son Jason, who landed success last year with "Ghostbusters - Legacy".

Ivan Reitman was born on October 27, 1946 in Komarmo, Czechoslovakia.

His mother Clara was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, his father Leslie fought in the resistance movement against National Socialism.

In 1951, the Jewish family fled the Communists aboard a tugboat and settled in Toronto, Canada.

As a boy, Reit was involved in puppetry, entertaining his audience with his own puppet theater.

In 1961 he founded a folk music group.

He went to McMasters University in Hamilton, produced and directed short films, some of which were televised, and started a college film distribution business.

In the early 1970s, Reitman began his career as a producer.

After the moderately successful horror film Cannibal Girls (1972), which he directed, he focused on producing.

He teamed up with director David Cronenberg.

The two initially worked in the horror film genre, making the films Shivers (1974), Death Weekend (1976) and Rabid (1977).

Reitman had his first Broadway hit with The Magic Show and his second with The National Lampoon Show, which produced the motion picture National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) in collaboration with director John Landis.

Reitman later proved his talent for comedy, again as a director with Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981).

Finally, in 1984, he released the horror comedy Ghostbusters, starring Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray.

The following year was the romantic comedy You Don't Kiss DAs, starring Robert Redford and Debra Winger.

Reitman proved that the action battering ram Arnold Schwarzenegger is also suitable for comedy with the comedy "Twins" (1988), in which Schwarzenegger appeared alongside Danny De Vito.

Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994) followed.

With "Ghostbusters II", however, Reitman could not build on the original success.

The comedy "Dave" with Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline in the leading roles took care of that.

With "Evolution" Reitman presented a science fiction action comedy,

In 2000, Reitman founded his own production company, The Montecito Picture Company.

He produced the Hitchcock adaptation Disturbia (2007), Post Grad (2009), Up in the Air (2009), Chloe (2009) and the biopic Hitchcock (2013) with Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins starring.

Ivan Reitman had been married to former actress Genevieve Robert since 1976.

The couple leaves behind three adult children, Jason, Catherine and Caroline.