Roger Ebert was more than a film critic.

He was a journalist and a pioneer of his time. He found new ways to tell his stories: through his television show, through his books, through his website and through social media.

He endured so much through the years. He battled thyroid and salivary gland cancer and lost his voice and lost a part of his jaw. His cancer resurfaced after a hip fracture late last year. Yet his writing persevered, and he never missed a beat as a beloved figure in the film industry.

He confronted his long and laborious battle with cancer publicly. And just days earlier, he said goodbye in what his friends call a fitting way: through his intellectual, creative words.

“So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies,” Ebert wrote in his blog post, announcing he was taking a “leave of presence.”

The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic died Thursday at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, announced the Chicago Sun-Times, where he had been working for over four decades. He was 70.

He was scheduled to attend his annual film festival, Ebertfest, which will still be held later this month.

Ebert’s death was met with sadness from the Champaign-Urbana community, a place where he grew up and called home.

“Roger Ebert was a dear friend to this campus and a great ambassador for the University throughout his career,” Chancellor Phyllis Wise said in a statement. “He truly changed the way we talk about film and how we think about art and media. Thanks to Roger, none of us will ever see a movie in the same way again.”

Ebert was born on June 18, 1942, in Urbana and earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University. But his years at The Daily Illini defined his career, his long-time friends said in the wake of his death Thursday.

This year marks the 50th anniversary in his position as editor-in-chief, a role that Ebert called “the highlight of his career,” said Michael David Smith, who was the editor-in-chief in 1999 — the same year of Ebert’s inaugural film festival.

Ebert’s moment might have never come. His father had died during his freshman year at the University, and he had offered to drop out of the University to join the workforce to help his family, his mother later told Betsy Hendrick, a friend who met Ebert while they were both working at The News-Gazette.

“She wouldn’t hear of it,” Hendrick said. Ebert was in high school then, while Hendrick was attending college.

While he was editor-in-chief, Ebert penned a column after John F. Kennedy’s assassination — arguably one of his greatest works as a college student — which was republished in the Illini Media’s 100th anniversary edition.

“We all rushed to The Daily Illini (after Kennedy was assassinated). Everyone who worked for the paper came running down. Of course the bells were going off in the AP (Associated Press) and UPI (United Press International) machines, signaling a major story. And Roger was there front and center. … He knew what to do,” said William Nack, who succeeded Ebert as editor-in-chief.

After graduating, he spent a year studying in Cape Town, South Africa. He then went on to be a world-renowned critic, whose “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” became an icon for his reviews and his TV shows, which he hosted first with Chicago Tribune’s Gene Siskel and then with colleague Richard Roeper.

In 1975, he became the first to earn a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. But his most important honor was when he won an AP sportswriting award, one that he earned for a piece he wrote in high school, he said in a 2010 blog post.

With every accolade and accomplishment, the list of his admirers grew.

“Roger Ebert was the reason I went to the University of Illinois. He was the reason I studied journalism. He was the reason why I worked at the DI. He was the reason why I became I writer,” former Daily Illini sports editor Will Leitch said.

“He was the reason why I did everything.”

Even while writing countless reviews and keeping up with a Twitter account and a Facebook page, he still found time to return home.

Ebert stayed involved with what was then known as the College of Communications. In the spring of 1999, he hosted what was then known as Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival.

The film festival grew and flourished with support from the College of Media and the Champaign Park District.

Even the cancer surgeries in 2006 and the hardships the ordeal brought did not sideline his work with the festival or the Sun-Times. But Smith said Ebert’s recent announcement signaled an unfortunate turn of events.

“Although he put (Tuesday’s blog post) in such an optimistic tone, I really thought he must be really sick to be taking a leave of any kind. He would not do a thing like that lightly; it certainly indicated he was not doing well. I feared the worst when I heard that,” he said.

Ebert has reviewed over 200 films every year, writing 306 reviews last year — the most of his career — according to his blog. He watched the movies that the rest of us didn’t see or didn’t want to. And he was excited to share those stories.

After all, that’s why he dedicated his film festival to those that “for one reason or another haven’t found the audiences they deserve,” he said in the welcome of the first annual festival guide.

He was looking forward to a new chapter in his life.

“I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review,” Ebert said in his blog, promising: “I am not going away.”

Darshan can be reached at [email protected] and @drshnpatel.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Michael David Smith saying Ebert must be really thick to be taking a leave of any kind. Smith said Ebert must be really sick to be taking a leave of any kind. The Daily Illini regrets the error.