In Memoriam 2022 In Memoriam 2022

2022 saw the animation community lose key figures whose influence will live on long after their passing. As we do each year, we’ve collected the tributes and obituaries we published over the last 12 months to honor those who are no longer with us.

We’ve linked through to our coverage below. In putting together this collection, we were impressed by the incredible diversity of backgrounds for many of these influential figures. We lost artists, technicians, writers, and studio founders from around the world and from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, each of whom made incredible impacts on the industry and art form. Many lived and worked in multiple countries throughout their career, demonstrating the universal appeal of the animation art form.

Many of these artists and craftspeople, who laid the foundation on which so many artists work today, are unknown or underappreciated, a fact that became clear as we researched their lives for these stories. That’s perhaps inevitable in an art form that often requires dozens – or even hundreds – of people to create just a few minutes of animation. These obituaries are therefore one small way to help set the record straight and give these people the due they deserve.

Gil Alkabetz
Gil Alkabetz

Celebrated Israeli filmmaker behind shorts like Rubicon and Morir De Amor


Rankin Bass
Jules Bass

Co-founder of Rankin/Bass Productions


Carl Bell
Carl Bell

Canadian animator and champion of the art form


Anne D. Bernstein
Anne D. Bernstein

Writer on MTV’s Daria and Downtown


'David the Gnome,' 'Dogtanian'
Claudio Biern Boyd

Spanish creator of David The Gnome, Dogtanian


Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo
Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo

Iconic Croatian filmmaker and part of the Zagreb school of animation


Raymond Briggs
Raymond Briggs

Author and illustrator of The Snowman, When the Wind Blows


Mike Camarillo
Mike Camarillo

Industry artist who worked on The Powerpuff Girls, The Road to El Dorado, and The Simpsons


Paul Coker Jr.
Paul Coker Jr.

Designer of timeless Rankin/Bass holiday special characters; one of Mad magazine’s “usual gang of idiots”


Kevin Conroy 'Batman: The Animated Series'
Kevin Conroy

Longtime Batman voice actor


Ralph Eggleston
Ralph Eggleston

Legendary art director and a cornerstone of Pixar’s visual style


Jonathan Gales
Jonathan Gales

BAFTA-winning co-founder of vfx/animation studio Factory Fifteen


Lina Gagnon
Lina Gagnon

Canadian animator and educator who worked on The Man Who Planted Trees


Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried

Aladdin and Cyberchase voice actor


Norma Swank-Haviland
Norma Swank-Haviland

Disney ink-&-paint artist and early Chip voice actor


Dylan Hoffman
Dylan Hoffman

Lead character technical director on Kamp Koral


Ken Knowlton

A founding father of computer art and animation


Shichirō Kobayashi
Shichiro Kobayashi

Prolific art director of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, Berserk


John Korty
John Korty

Renegade indie filmmaker; Twice Upon A Time and Sesame Street director


Thilo Kuther, 'Hugo'
Thilo Kuther

Founder of Oscar-winning vfx company Pixomondo


Fernando Laverde
Fernando Laverde

Colombian stop motion Pioneer


Tony Mines
Tony Mines

Pioneer of “brickfilm” animation technique


Tom Yohe & George Newall
George R. Newall

School House Rock! and Drawing Power co-creator


Yuji Nunokawa
Yuji Nunokawa

Founder of Naruto, Bleach, and Yu Yu Hakusho studio Pierrot


Manabu Ohashi
Manabu Ohashi

Veteran animator and director of Cloud


Duckman Everett Peck
Everett Peck

Duckman and Squirrel Boy creator; award-winning illustrator; educator


Vlasta Pospíšilová, Maryška and Wolf Castle
Vlasta Pospíšilová

Icon of the golden age of Czech puppet animation


Gerald Potterton
Gerald Potterton

Director of Heavy Metal an the “Liverpool” sequence of Yellow Submarine


Jan Rabson voices
Jan Rabson

Voice actor for Akira, Leisure Suit Larry, and Pixar films


Peter Robbins
Peter Robbins

Original voice of Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown


Jan Rogowski
Jan Rogowski

U.K.-based Red Star studio co-founder


Jean-Jacques Sempé
Jean-Jacques Sempé

Illustrator and cartoonist; co-creator of Little Nicholas


Andrei Svislotski
Andrei Svislotski

Russian animation director and key figure at Klasky Csupo


RIP Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh
Kazuki Takahashi

Yu-Gi-Oh! creator


Eugene Troubetzkoy
Eugene Troubetzkoy

Nuclear physicist and Blue Sky Studios co-founder

Pictured at top: Ralph Eggleston, Vlasta Pospíšilová, Kazuki Takahashi, John Korty

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