![In memoriam 2021](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/in_memoriam_2021-1280x600.jpg)
![In memoriam 2021](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/in_memoriam_2021-580x326.jpg)
In Memoriam: Remembering The Animation Industry Figures Who Died In 2021
In a year already saturated with tragedy, news of yet another passing in the animation world was often the last thing we wanted to hear. Yet we covered more deaths in 2021 than in any previous year: 36 in all.
This isn’t necessarily because the past 12 months saw excess deaths (none of the ones we wrote about were confirmed to be linked to Covid-19). But more than ever, we saw in obituaries a chance to pay tribute to brilliant below-the-line artists and voice actors, influential executives, giants of international animation, pioneering women and artists of color — the people who power our industry, yet are rarely recognized as such.
We’ve linked through to our coverage below. While researching the obituaries, we were struck by how little information is available on some of these figures (at least in the English language). Let’s see that as an opportunity. There is still so much to say, to write, to learn about the history of our medium – so many great careers to honor.
![Edwin Aguilar](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/edwinaguilar.jpg)
Edwin Aguilar
Artist and assistant director who worked on The Simpsons for 22 years
![Dale Baer](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/dalebaer.jpg)
Dale Baer
Animator who worked on many Disney films across decades
![Brenda Banks](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/brendaBanks.gif)
Brenda Banks
One of the first Black women animators in America
![Vinnie Bell](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/vinnie_bell.jpg)
Vinnie Bell
Animator who worked at many New York studios over half a century
![Giannalberto Bendazzi](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/giannalberto_bendazzi.jpg)
Giannalberto Bendazzi
Researcher and historian who wrote seminal global histories of the animation art form
![Jamie Kezlarian Bolio](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/jamiebolio.jpg)
Jamie Kezlarian Bolio
Industry artist-turned-consultant who championed indie animation
![Allan Burns](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/allan_burns_rip.jpg)
Allan Burns
Writer and producer who worked on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
![Dave Creek](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/davecreek_rip.jpg)
Dave Creek
Lead character designer on Bob’s Burgers
![DePatie](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/daviddepatie.jpg)
David H. DePatie
Veteran animation executive and co-founder of Pink Panther studio DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
![Jacques Drouin](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/jacquesdrouin.jpg)
Jacques Drouin
Master of pinscreen animation
![Don Duga](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/don_duga.jpg)
Don Duga
Versatile artist who worked at Rankin/Bass Productions
![Brian Goldner](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/brian_goldner.jpg)
Brian Goldner
Hasbro CEO who turned the company into an entertainment giant
![Troy Gustafson](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/troy_gustafson.jpg)
Troy Gustafson
Effects animator who worked on many films of the Disney Renaissance
![Marcell Jankovics](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/marcell_jankovics_lead.jpg)
Marcell Jankovics
Filmmaker who directed some of Hungary’s greatest animated works
![Olivier Jean-Marie](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/olivier_jean_marie.jpg)
Olivier Jean-Marie
Director of Oggy and the Cockroaches and creator of Zig & Sharko
![Anne Jolliffe](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/annejolliffe.jpg)
Anne Jolliffe
Artist often claimed to be Australia’s first professional woman animator
![Don Jurwich](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/don_jurwich.jpg)
Don Jurwich
Director and producer who worked at Hanna-Barbera and Marvel
![Astro Boy](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/astro_boy_ladd.jpg)
Fred Ladd
Pioneering producer of English-language versions of anime shows
![Gary Leib](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/gary_leib.jpg)
Gary Leib
Cartoonist, filmmaker, animator, and Grammy-nominated musician
![György Matolcsy](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/gyorgy_matolcsy.jpg)
György Matolcsy
Longtime director of Hungary’s Pannónia Film Studio
![Tayiba Musavi and Fatima Mohammadi](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/afghananimators.jpg)
Tayiba Musavi and Fatima Mohammadi
Animators who worked for the Afghan Film Organization
![Roy Naisbitt](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/roy_naisbitt.jpg)
Roy Naisbitt
Master layout artist and longtime collaborator of Richard Williams
![Cowboy Bebop](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/cowboy_bebop.jpg)
Keiko Nobumoto
Screenwriter who worked on Cowboy Bebop and Tokyo Godfathers
![Yasuo Otsuka](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/yasuo_otsuka_rip.jpg)
Yasuo Otsuka
Influential animator who mentored Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata
![Vera Pacheco](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/vera_pacheco.jpg)
Vera Pacheco
Clean-up supervisor of Disney Animation’s last hand-drawn features – The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh
![Kathleen Quaife-Hodge](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/kathleen_quaife_hodge.jpg)
Kathleen Quaife-Hodge
Effects animator who worked for Disney and Sullivan Bluth
![Los tres reyes magos](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/lostresreyesmagos.jpg)
Fernando Ruíz Álvarez
Co-director of Los tres reyes magos, Mexico’s first animated feature
![Will Ryan](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/willryab_obit.jpg)
Will Ryan
Disney voice artist and former ASIFA-Hollywood president
![Bob Stanton](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/bobstanton_rip.jpg)
Robert Stanton
Prominent background artist of the Disney Renaissance
![Fist of the North Star](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/fist_of_the_north_star.jpg)
Masami Suda
Animator and character designer who animation-directed Fist of the North Star
![Ruthie Tompson](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ruthietompson_a.jpg)
Ruthie Tompson
Disney legend who played key technical roles on countless classics and longest-living animation worker of all time (she died at 111)
![Marty Grabstein, Thea White](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/marty_grabstein_thea_white.jpg)
Thea White
Voice of Muriel Bagge on Courage the Cowardly Dog
![Derrick Wyatt](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/derrickwyatt_b.jpg)
Derrick Wyatt
Character designer on Teen Titans, Transformers, and Scooby Doo
![Belladonna of Sadness](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/yamamoto_rip.jpg)
Eiichi Yamamoto
Anime artist who collaborated with Osamu Tezuka and directed Belladonna of Sadness
![Phil Young](http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/phil_young.jpg)
Phil Young
Veteran animator of the Disney renaissance