$400,000 worth of art stolen from 'The Simpsons' co-creator's foundation

Artwork worth $400,000 has been stolen from the Sam Simon Foundation in Malibu, California, set up by late "The Simpsons" co-creator Sam Simon, the California wire agency City News Service (CNS) reported on Wednesday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Matthew Dunn told CNS that someone from the foundation called to report the theft of two paintings, including a $200,000 work by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, late on Friday.

Dunn said the department put out a call for help to the public in locating the pieces on Wednesday, CNS reported.

A representative for the sheriff's department could not be immediately reached for details on Wednesday.

Simon, a co-creator of Fox's long-running hit animated series "The Simpsons" and an ardent philanthropist, died after a battle with colon cancer last month at the age of 59.

Simon won nine Emmy awards for his work as a writer and executive producer of the situation comedy, which premiered in 1989 and won over a global audience with its portrait of a bumbling father and his wayward family.

Simon, who had founded the Sam Simon Foundation in 2002, decided to give away his fortune, estimated by media at $100 million.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Michael Perry)