Bob Carroll Jr., who co-created the classic sitcom "I Love Lucy" and worked on all 180 of its episodes, died in his home in Los Angeles. He was 87.

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Carroll had been in ill health for the past few weeks, Zap2it.com said.

Carroll first teamed with Lucille Ball on her radio show "My Favorite Husband." Then Carroll, writing partner Madelyn Pugh Davis and writer Jess Oppenheimer co-created "I Love Lucy" in 1951.

The show ran through 1957, setting the situation comedy template -- filming in front of a live audience and selling reruns into syndication.

Carroll worked with Ball on several shows after "I Love Lucy" ended, including "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,""The Lucy Show,""Here's Lucy" and "Life With Lucy."

He and Davis also co-wrote the script for the feature film "Yours, Mine and Ours," which starred Ball and Henry Fonda, and worked on other television comedies, including "The Mothers-in-Law" and "Alice."

In 1992, the Writers Guild of America honored Carroll and Davis with its Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for television writing. Carroll also was nominated for two Emmys.

Carroll died Saturday.