Oh man. Jim Shooter was the first comics pro I remember being aware of (alongside Stan Lee) simply because of the preponderance of his name in the comics I grew up with. Was a Marvel kid in the 80s. And yes, only relatively recently learned of his Transformers world-building. RIP.
It was probably a bellwether for me and social media that I would read the bullpen/letters first. There was always personality.
The 80's was a good time for comics and yes, Jim was everywhere then. It was kind of comforting that there was some sanity at the top of all the stories. That seems to have changed over the years.
His whole Valiant run was transcendent. It hit right at the time when Marvel was getting cheesy.
I interviewed him by phone for my middle school newspaper, 1986, I think? He couldn't have been more kind and patient with me. Before the interview took place, he'd had his assistant mail me a massive manila envelope bulging with copies of various memos and random Marvel paperwork. RIP.