Russell Merritt
UC Berkeley and author of Walt in Wonderland

I was very saddened to hear the news about Derek. I met him when he came to Harvard to teach in the late 1960s. I never knew him well, but even from afar, he was an unforgettable fellow. He was the first professional animator I ever met, and he set the standard for patience, kindness, and sheer creative intelligence.

Vivien Halas
Writer

I knew him as a colleague of my parents and from a few meetings in Paris where I lived for most of my adult life. He was someone that I felt a real connection with. In fact we had dinner together the night my daughter was born and he was one of the first people to visit me in hospital.

The reason he was in Paris was because he was writing a treatment for my father for a film on Emile Cohl. We met up with Pierre Cortet Cohl, and spent time looking at Cohls’ old haunts. Sadly the project never got made, but so many others did. I will never forget him.

Tom Lamb
Visual effects artist

My Dad was a huge inspiration to my career as an artist. He was constantly working on new ideas and enjoyed telling stories. He would always tell a funny story to friends and it was fun to hear them over and over, they never got tiring.”

He never compromised when it came to creating art. Sometimes we would go to a copy place on St. Catherine Street in Montreal and have some of my drawings from sketchbooks blown up quite large. He’d spend a long time inspecting the copy, and if the copier smudged the art a tiny bit, he’d have it redone; he wanted the artwork to be perfect.

As a kid, I remember him taking me to the NFB offices. I was so impressed that my Dad worked there, pictures and drawings all over his office. He would get me set up with pens and paper so I could draw, and sometimes he would set up a monitor so my brother and I could see cartoons that the NFB had created.

Pierre Courtet-Cohl
Emile Cohl’s grandson

I would just like to say how I have been sadly affected when I have learnt the death of Derek Lamb and, some days later, of Wendy Jackson, and maybe, more than others, as I struggle myself against cancer since the beginning of this year. Although it is more difficult for me to tell it in English than in French, I’m going to try and express my pain clearly.

I had met Derek Lamb many years ago, when John Halas, with whom he had much worked in the past, requested him to prepare a storyboard for a documentary feature about my grandfather, Emile Cohl. For this purpose, Derek came to Paris where I live and we visited together different places still existing where Emile Cohl had lived and worked. Our collaboration was very agreeable and I have kept a pleasant memory of it. The storyboard was perfect, but unhappily, the project could never be brought to a successful conclusion, due to the lack of interest from French co-producers; in addition, John Halas died some months later.

Some years ago, I had been invited by the film archives of the Harvard University, in order to make a speech on Emile Cohl and present a program of his films. I immediately informed Derek Lamb. As he lived very close the University and had taught there some years before, he insisted to come and introduce me before my speech. He explained how we met the first time and his words were full of warmth and kindness. At night, he invited me in a nice restaurant where we spent a very good time with his wife Tracie Smart and some of his friends. The day after, he took me to his home and showed me, among other things, his collection of flipbooks, but was very modest on his own works.

I offer my most sincere condolences to the family of Derek Lamb.

Tom Gasek
Director/animator, OOH Inc.

I first met Derek Lamb in 1979 when he was the executive producer at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal. I was a U.S. citizen that had been awakened to the possibilities of “alternative” animation through the great works of the NFBC. In the U.S., it was Disney that dominated the animation world despite all the great work of UPA, Hanna-Barbera and countless other production companies. As an animation student at the Rochester Institute of Technology my eyes were being opened and I wanted to participate in this “new” form of animation that was being celebrated and practiced in Canada.

My film teachers, Erik Timmerman and Martin Reynolds, had arranged a meeting for me and three other students to tour the Film Board. Rochester wasn’t too far from Montreal and, even though we spoke English and the Quebecois were feeling their French identity and potential independence, we felt that a trip to the NFB was worth any hassle we might experience as English-speakers in Montreal.

When we entered the hallowed halls of the Film Board, we were introduced to so many wonderful artists including Carolyn Leaf, Ishu Patel and Derek Lamb. We entered the office of Norman McClaren, my personal animation hero. I remembered that the office appeared to be more of a museum than a working space. I was so overwhelmed by the access to this wonderful animation hot spot that I don’t recall individual conversations. Being a visual person, I do recall seeing Carolyn Leaf’s animation stand and finding out that she had a technician help her set everything up and she had no deadlines. I won’t forget the beautifully under lit work of Ishu Patel and viewing the vibrant work in the film, Walkin’ by Ryan Larkin. I don’t recall seeing much of Derek during that visit and as I think back I’m sure he was off behind the scenes running the “English” division of this Canadian animation utopia.