A couple more brief notes about the untimely passing of story artist Joe Ranft. This article from the MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL explains what Ranft was doing with the other people in the car:

Ranft was en route to a Mendocino retreat Tuesday with two men from the Watts area of Los Angeles. The program, called Mosaic, pairs successful businessmen with men who are trying to straighten out their lives, said neighbor and friend Pat Ravasio. …”These retreats were very spiritual,” said Ravasio, who knew Ranft for 10 years. “These were disadvantaged men he was hoping to help and inspire.”

To read a constantly updated stream of what the blogging community is saying about Ranft, do THIS SEARCH on Technorati. Many of the people compelled to comment are simply fans of animation and Pixar who have never met Ranft, and others have only met him in passing. Here is one Alvin Cerrado Cruzado of Canada: “I, for one, felt a certain grief when I heard of his death. I never knew him personally, nor met him even. But he was responsible for most of the films that inspired me to be in animation. For that, I think I owe him a great deal.” And another thought from Casira: “I’m just a fan, of course, and didn’t know him, but after years of watching their movies, giggling over those exuberantly-goofy DVDs, and always appreciating the work of Pixar’s story team so, so much, and then reading all these messages from people who universally confirm he was one of the best guys you could ever hope to meet, about all I can think is that we just can’t afford to lose people like him.”