We bid farewell this year to many talented women and men who devoted their lives to creating inspiring animation and stunning visual effects. We honor their legacy, celebrate their numerous accomplishments and are forever grateful to them for creating art that moved, entertained and inspired us and proved once again that nothing can replace human creativity and imagination in our world.
As always, we are grateful to Tom Sito and Yvette Kaplan for hosting the annual Afternoon of Remembrance (which is planned for Saturday, March 7, at noon) to celebrate the achievements and honoring the memories of those we lost in 2025. It will be a hybrid event with some participating at the Animation Guild Hall in Burbank and some via Zoom. (For more info, visit animationguild.org.)
Britt Allcroft. British screenwriter, producer, director and voice actress who adapted Wilbert Awdry’s The Railway Series to the hugely successful show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (aka Thomas & Friends) narrated by Ringo Starr, created Shining Time Station with Rick Siggelkow, as well as Magic Adventures of Mumfieand wrote, co-produced and directed the 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Died Dec. 25, 2024, age 81.
Loni Anderson. Emmy-winning actress, famous for playing the receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the sitcom WKPF in Cincinatti in the ‘70s. She was the voice of Blondie in two Blondie and Dagwood shorts and the dog Flo in All Dogs Go to Heaven. Died Aug. 3, age 70.
Victor Atkinson. British-Canadian artist, director and founder of pioneering Ottawa-based animation studio Atkinson Film Arts Ltd. He worked as animator on Return to Oz and Heavy Metal and as director on The New Misadventures of Ichabod Crane, The Christmas Raccoons and The Trolls and the Christmas Express. Died June 22, 2025, age 94.
Tony Benedict. Much-loved Hanna-Barbera writer and storyboard artist who worked on all the episodes of The Flintstones, as well as Top Cat and The Jetsons. He also wrote and storyboarded for Huckleberry Hound, Yakky Doodle, Touche Turtle, Wally Gator, Magilla Gorilla and Secret Squirrel. Benedict developed The Jetson’s Astro the dog from Joe Barbera’s suggestions. Died Nov. 29, age 88.
Ruth Buzzi. Golden Globe winning and five-time Emmy-nominated actress, singer and comedian best known for her performances on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. She voiced numerous characters on TV shows, including Nose Marie in Pound PuppiesMama Bear in The Berenstain BearsSuzie Kabloozie and her cat Feff for Sesame StreetGladys Ormphby in Baggy Pants and the Nitwitsas well as guest spots on The Smurfs, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, The Jetsons, Alvin and the Chipmunksand The Angry Beavers. Died May 1, age 88.
James Carter Cathcart (kala is Jimmy Zoppi). American voice actor, script adaptor, voice director, pianist and vocalist who was best known for providing the English voices for Gary Oak, James, Meowth and Professor Oak in the Pokémon franchise. Died July 8, age 71.
Alf Clausen. Emmy-winning composer who received 30 Emmy nominations and two wins for his work on The Simpsons (seasons 2 to 28) from 1990 to 2017. He also composed music for shows and features as wide-ranging as ALF, The Critic, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Moonlighting and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Died May 29, age 84.
David Steven Cohen. Prolific, Emmy-winning writer and songwriter who worked on many highly acclaimed shows, including Courage the Cowardly Dog (head writer), Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Arthur, Peg + Cat,Tiny Toon Adventures, Parker Lewis Can’t Loseand exec producing The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1995 animated movie Balto.Died March 15, age 67.
Aria Covamonas. Mexican filmmaker and experimental animator known for her non-linear works, hand-animated cut-outs and appropriation of public domain media. Among her best-known work are The Great History of Western Philosophy, Socrates’ Adventure in the Under Ground, I Can’t Go On Like This, Taxidermy for Beginners and Camille Saint-Saens’ The Carnival of the Animals. Died July 6, age 46.
Skip Craig. Long-time track reader and editor who worked for UPA, Jay Ward Productions and Disney TV Animation with over 133 credits including The Bullwinkle Show, Hoppity Hooper, DarkWing Duck, Goof Troop, The Goofy Movie, DuckTales: The Movie, Lilo and Stitch: The Series and Phineas and Ferb. Died March 31, age 93.
Jerry Eisenberg. Renowned animator, producer, storyboard artist and character designer celebrated for his work with Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears. Co-created The Peter Potamus Showprovided character designs for Wacky Races and Super Friendsand did layout for The Jetsons, Jonny Quest and The Huckleberry Hound Show. He also created storyboards, layout, designs and wrote for shows such as Johnny Bravo, Tom & Jerry Kids, Muppet Babies and House of Mouse. Died Feb. 11, age 87.
Jules Feiffer. Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning cartoonist and screenwriter (Carnal Knowledge and Popeye) whose forays into animation included Gene Deitch’s shorts Munro, Bark, George and I Lost My Bear, The Nudnik Show and Bill Plympton’s short, Boomtown. Died Jan. 17, age 95
Paul Fierlinger. Czech-American indie animator and director best known for his 1979 Oscar-nominated short It’s So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House2001 Peabody-winning PBS special Still Life with Animated Dogthe acclaimed 2009 feature that he co-wrote and co-directed with his wife Sandra Fierlinger (pictured above), My Dog Tulip and the 2015 feature Slocum at Sea With Himself. He also created animated shorts for Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Square One TV and Shining Time Station. Died April 4, age 89.
Gail Frank. Longtime Disney and Hanna-Barbera assistant animator, animator and effects animator who worked on features such as The Fox and the Hound, Tron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid, The Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Mulan, Pocahontas, The Hunch back of Notre Dame Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and Treasure Planet, and TV series such as The Smurfs, Super Friends and Heathcliff. Died Aug. 29, age 82.
Joseph Gilland. Canadian animation director, special effects animator, journalist, painter and author of the Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation. His effects animation work was featured in Don Bluth movies such as Rock-A-Doodle, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park and The Pebble and the Penguin and the ’90s-era Disney movies such as Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules and Mulan. He also served as vfx supervisor on Tarzan, The Emperor’s New Groove, Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear. Gilland also worked at the NFB and Bardel Animation and led the Vancouver Film School’s animation program (2003-2005). Died Nov. 17, age 64.
Joseph Hale. Animator and layout artist who also produced Disney’s 1985 feature The Black Cauldron and received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects for Disney’s 1979 feature The Black Hole. Earlier in his career, he worked as a layout artist on Disney classics such as Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete’s Dragon, The Rescues and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too. Died Jan. 29, age 99.
Co. (Jacobous) Hatter. Dutch-Canadian filmmaker known for his mastery of stop-motion animation and technical innovations. Wrote and directed Continental Drift (1968), the Oscar- and Annecy Cristal-winning short The Sand Castle (1977), The Ecos Garden (1997) Ludovic: The Snow Gift (2000) and The Blue Marble (2014) among others. Died May 26, age 84.
Christine Smith Ishimine. Much-admired animation timer and co-founder/co-chair of The Animation Guild’s Timing Committee and member of the TAG Negotiation Committee for the 2024 Guild Contract. She worked on a wide range of series including Family Guy, American Dad!, Futurama, Horrible Histories, Dilbert and Independent Lens. Died in Dec., age 52.
Todd Jacobsen. Animation veteran who was a coordinator/assistant and layout artist on The Simpsons and worked as storyboard artist and revisionist on shows such as Duck Dodgers, The New Looney Tunes, and Where’s Waldotiming assistant, key assistant animator and cleanup artist on features such as Cats Can’t Dance The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, The Simpsons Movie and Mary Poppins Returns and shows such as Curious George, Family Guy and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. Died Aug. 22, age 61
Jonathan Joss. American actor and musician best known for his role as Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation and voicing John Redcorn in King of the Hill. Other animation voice credits include The Wild Thornberrys, Justice League Unlimited and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. Died June 1, age 59.
Karenia Kaminski. Animator, storyboard artist, layout artist, background designer and producer on numerous animated series and features including features such as The Iron Giant, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Osmosis Jones, Space Jam and Eight Crazy Nightsand TV series including California Raisin Show, Gargoyles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1991), Loonatics Unleashed, Ozzy and Drix, The Addams Family (1993), Captain Planet (1993-95), The Simpsons and The Patrick Star Show. Died in October.
Steven Philip Kasper. Animation producer and publicist who worked on shows such as Universal Remote and Crime Time. Died in December.
Diane Keaton. Oscar-winning actress best known for her roles in The Godfather, Annie Hall, Reds, Baby Boom and Something’s Gotta Givewho also voiced Jenny, Dory mother, in Pixar’s Finding Dory and Michellee Weebie-Am-I in the Netflix series, Green Eggs and Ham. Died Oct. 11, age 79.
Fumi Kitahara. Much-admired animation publicity executive who led award-winning campaigns for the first three Shrek films, Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, How to Train Your Dragon, Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, Over the Moon and The Sea Beast for DreamWorks, Aardman, LAIKA, Netflix and Disney as well as indie Oscar-winning shorts such as The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse and War is Over!.Died Feb 24, age 56.
Richard Laslo. Animation artist whose credits include Danny and the Dinosaur, (Blooper) Bunny, Bugs Bunny’s Lunar Tunes, Bugs Bunny’s Creature Features and Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers. Known as “the cel king,” Laslo was famous for keeping the animation cel tradition alive, as well as being a well-regarded inker, graphic illustrator and photographer. In 2012, he created a two-minute hand-painted presentation for Disney featuring over 30 of the studio’s beloved characters. Died April 21.
Read a tribute to Richard here.
Bruce Logan. British-born American filmmaker and special effects artist, whose notable work include designing effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars (second unit director of photography), serving as cinematographer on Disney’s original TRON and creating practical effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Incredible Shrinking Womanamong others. Died April 10, age 78.
George Lowe. American voice actor and comedian who’s best known for voicing Space Ghost on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast series and its spin-off series. He also lent his voice to other Adult Swim shows such as Assy McGee, Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, Squidbillies, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and 12 oz Mouse. Died March 2, age 67.
David Lynch. Visionary painter, and film and TV series director/auteur whose beloved masterpieces include the movies Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive and the hugely influential TV series Twin Peaks. Early in his career, he directed several experimental animated shorts including Six Men Getting Sick, The Alphabet and The Grandmother. He also created an animated online series titled Dumbland in 2002 and voiced Gus the bartender on FOX’s The Cleveland Show. Died Jan. 15, age 78.
Dan McGrath. TV writer, educator and stage director, who is known primarily for his work as a writer/producer for Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Gravity Falls, Mission Hill, The PJs and Muppets Tonight. He won an Emmy for the groundbreaking “Homer’s Phobia” episode of The Simpsons. Died Nov. 14, age 61.
Rick Morrison. Well-loved Canadian animation industry producer and executive who founded Ottawa’s Big Jump Entertainment. He worked on a wide variety of animated shows over the past few decades, including The Raccoons, Babar and Father Christmas, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, For Better or Worse, The Mask, Toad Patrol, C.L.Y.D.E., Long Ago & Far Away and Animals. Feb. 17, age 79.
Phil Mulloy. Irish-English indie animator Phil, best known for his original, dark satirical shorts featuring distinctive black skeletal figures and minimalistic backgrounds, including Channel Four’s 1990’s Cowboy series, The Ten Commandments, The Chain, The the Annecy Prize-winning short Intolerance, Endgame and the feature Dead but Not Buried. Died July 10, age 76.
Steve Pepoon. Animation writer and producer who worked on The PJs, ALF, The Simpsons (the Emmy-winning episode “Homer and Lisa and the Eighth Commandment), and who co-created Nickelodeon’s The Wild Thornberrys. Live-action credits include Get a life, Roseanne and It’s Gary Shandling Show. Died May 3, age 68.
Tristan Rogers. Australian actor who voiced Jake the kangaroo mouse in Disney’s The Rescuers: Down Under (1990). Other animation credits include Delgo, Batman Beyond, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Died Aug. 15, age 79.
Jim Smith. Influential animator, character designer and co-founder of the Spümcø studio who co-developed The Ren & Stimpy Show with John Kricfalusi. He also worked on the movie Cool World and TV shows such as The Real Ghostbusters, Tiny Toon Adventures, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Ripping Friends and The X’s and music videos for Björk and The Rolling Stones. Died May 2, age 70.
Alissa Solomon. Artist, sculptor and assistant animator at Walt Disney Features, who also worked for Richard Williams, Chuck Jones and Ginger Gibbons, and became a successful real estate agent after leaving animation in the late ’80s. Died May 9, Age 70
Joe D. Suggs. Prolific storyboard, layout and cleanup artist who worked on numerous TV shows and features through the ’90s and 2000s, including Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, Space Jam, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Men in White, Futurama, Dilbert, Tazmania, The Critic, Timon and Pumbaa, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and The Oblongs. Died March 5, age 59.
Mark Thornton. Canadian animation storyboard artist, designer and director who worked on over 40 shows and movies over the past three decades. Features included Space Jam, Anastasia, Titan A.E., Osmosis Jones, The Jungle Book 2 and TV projects included 6Teen, Middlemost Post, Total Drama, Grojband, Corner Gas Animated, True and the Rainbow Kingdom and Pikwik Pack for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Died April 30, age 55.
Dirk Von Besser. Versatile special effects/make-up artist and digital painter whose many animated feature credits include Cool World, Space Jam, The Iron Giant, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Eight Crazy Nights, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Mary Poppins Return and Space Jam: A New Legacy. Died Nov. 7.
Robert Verrall. Well-regarded Canadian animator, director and film producer who worked for the National Film Board of Canada from 1945 to 1987. He made The Romance of Transportation in Canada with Wolf Koenig, winner of the best animated short film award at Cannes and the first NFB film nominated in an animation category at the Academy Awards. He also received Oscar nominations for the shorts The Drag, Cosmic Zoom, Evolution, What on Earth, The Family That Dwelt Apart, Walking, Hot Stuff. Died Jan. 17, age 97.
Renée Victor. American actress, dance instructor and singer who provided the voice of the unforgettable Abueltia in Pixar’s Oscar-winning feature Coco. She also voiced characters in Futurama, Fairfax and The Elder Scrolls game. The Latina actress was also famous for starring as Lupita on Showtime’s Weeds. Died May 30, Age 86.
Philippe Vidal. Emmy-nominated French animation director who began his career at Ellipse Animation Studio in 1990, working on shows such as The Adventures of Tintin, Orson & Olivia, Rupert and Blake & Mortimer, and as a storyboard artist on The NeverEnding Story. The impactful figure in European animation industry is best known for his work on series including Fennec, The Garfield Show, Bobby & Bill, Valerian & Laureline, Contraptus and, most recently, Belfort & Lupin. He won an Emmy nomination. Died Sept. 8, age 59.
George Wendt. Beloved actor who starred as barfly Norm Peterson on the long-running sitcom Cheers also contributed to animated projects on occasion, including Garfield specials, Fancy Nancy and I Lost My Body and The Simpsons, Family Guy and TV Funhouse (as himself). Died May 20, age 76.
