In Memoriam: Remembering The Animation Figures Who Died In 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, we have gathered the tributes and obituaries published on Cartoon Brew over the past year to honor members of the global animation community who are no longer with us.

Each entry includes a link to the individual’s obituary. As this year’s list came together, it once again underscored just how broadly animation reaches across the worldwide filmmaking landscape. Artists from a wide range of disciplines contributed work that was timely in its moment and, in many cases, timeless in its influence; films, specials, series, and characters that continue to resonate decades later.

The artists and technicians remembered here worked across countless styles, formats, and traditions, often pushing the boundaries of what animation could be at the time. Though they are gone, their work endures, continuing to inform and inspire the art being created today.

This is not a conclusive list, and we know we missed some very important figures this year. To those whom we didn’t have the resources or time to cover, and to the friends and loved ones they left behind, we apologize. Please feel free to share any names, memories, and anecdotes in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

David Lynch

Iconic filmmaker who cut his teeth in animation at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art

Robert Verrall

Influential figure in Canadian animation and a revered National Film Board (NFB) filmmaker and producer

Jules Feiffer

Mid-century cartoonist and screenwriter of Robert Altman’s live-action Popeye adaptation

Fumi Kitahara

One of the animation industry’s most-loved and best-respected publicists and PR chair for Women in Animation

Paul Fierlinger

Three-time Peebodyt Award-winning independent animator responsible for some of Sesame Street‘s most memorable segments

Jim Smith

Veteran animation artist and co-founder of Ren & Stimpy animation studio Spümcø

Co Hoedeman

Oscar and BAFTA-winning Canadian stop-motion animator and filmmaker

Aria Covamonas

Celebrated Mexican filmmaker and self-taught experimental animator

James Carter Cathcart

Longtime English-language Pokémon voice actor and primary script adapter

Phil Mulloy

British and Irish animator and screenwriter known for his satirical and snarky films

Philippe Vidal Dumas

French director and co-creator, with Jim Davis, of the popular 2000s The Garfield Show 

Dan McGrath

Prolific and widely admired animation writer and producer who penned some of the most popular episodes of The Simpsons

Joseph Gilland

Traditional and hybrid animation VFX pioneer, teacher, and writer of Elemental Magic: The Classical Art of Hand-Drawn Special Effects Animation 

Tony Benedict

Longtime Hanna-Barbera writer and storyboard artist who created Astro the dog