'Workaholics' Star Waymond Lee Dead at 72 After ALS Battle

6:41 p.m. PT -- Adam DeVine, who co-led and co-created "Workaholics," has broken his silence following Waymond Lee's passing ... noting in a new Instagram post that he was "gutted" by the news.

He added ... "He was such a kind man. My deepest condolences go out to his wife Diane and the rest of his family. He was always down to do whatever insane thing we wrote for him on Workaholics. He was always game. A true professional."

Waymond Lee, an actor best known for appearing in Comedy Central's "Workaholics," has died ... TMZ has learned.

Norine Lee, Waymond's sister, and Waymond’s wife, Diane, tell TMZ ... the actor passed away last week on Wednesday, Dec. 18 following complications from ALS -- a neurological disorder that impacts nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. For those unfamiliar, the disorder is often also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.

We're told Waymond was first diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease in late October, but further testing later revealed earlier this month that WL actually had ALS.

His loved ones told us Waymond was back home for a little over a week, but ultimately needed to be hospitalized after he had trouble breathing and swallowing.

We're told the actor was in the hospital for a little under a week before he passed away ... his wife was by his side.

They praised Waymond as a "soft-hearted" and "sentimental person," who loved working as an actor -- and never complained about working overtime.

Fans of "Workaholics" will remember Waymond for his work as Waymond/Old Way Way opposite Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Jillian Bell in the popular workplace sitcom, which ran between 2011 and 2017.

However, Waymond had a number of other credits on his resume ... including "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "Zombie Apocalypse," "The Thundermans," "Other People," "Veep," and "The Cleaning Lady."

He was 72 years old.

RIP