Ed Asner remembers Mary Tyler Moore: 'A great lady I loved and owe so much to'

Ed Asner is paying tribute to Mary Tyler Moore, who died Wednesday at 80, with whom he costarred on her eponymous 1970s sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

“My heart goes out to you and your family,” Asner tweeted Wednesday following the news of the TV icon’s death. “Know that I love you and believe in your strength.”

He continued in another tweet: “A great lady I loved and owe so much to has left us. I will miss her. I will never be able to repay her for the blessings that she gave me.”

Asner starred on the sitcom — in which Moore played the titular character — appearing in nearly every episode of its seven-season run from 1970 to 1977. He played Lou Grant, the tough, but kind-hearted boss to Moore’s Mary Richards, who was a producer at the local news station.

He would later reprise the character once again for Lou Grant, a one-hour drama that focused on his character as he takes a job at the fictional Los Angeles Tribune paper after being fired from his TV news job at the end of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Lou Grant was not only produced by Moore’s MTM Productions, the same company that produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but it was also the third spin-off from the series following Rhoda (Mary’s best friend), and Phyllis (Mary’s landlady).

Asner is one of countless celebrity tributes pouring in on social media, including those from Ellen DeGeneres, Michael Keaton, and several news personalities, including Larry King, Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, and more.