Disney and Hanna-Barbera animtor Harry Holt passed away April 14, 2004. He was 93 years old.

Holt first went to work at Disney in 1936 during the hiring ramp up for production on SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. Trained at the studio, he started out as an apprentice and worked his way helping develop the feature. He would later help design scenes for LADY AND THE TRAMP.

After 20 years at Disney, he moved to Chicago to work in television production and art direction. Later he joined HB, where he worked on THE FLINTSTONES and TOM AND JERRY.

Richard P. Kempster, exec producer at visual effects and character animation at studio Kleiser-Walczak, died March 28, 2004 at his home in Seal Beach, California after suffering a pulmonary embolism. He was 57.

Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the cartoonist behind the classic manga GIGANTOR, passed away April 15, 2004 after suffering burns from a fire in his Tokyo home earlier in the day, reported KYODO NEWS. He was 69. The blaze was reported to police by his younger sister when she discovered his bed was on fire. The cause of the fire has not been determined. His other credits include RED SHADOW, JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT, MASKED NINJA AKAKAGE and SALLY, THE WITCH.

Cinar founder Micheline Charest died on April 14, 2004 from complications following plastic surgery, reports www.Canada.com. She was 51.

AWN is saddened to report that legendary animation educator and historian Bill Moritz passed away on March 12, 2004 after suffering a long illness.

Dr. William Moritz is a world-renowned expert on animation, experimental film and visual music, and has authored more than 100 articles, chapters and program notes. His forthcoming book OPTICAL POETRY is the culmination of his 34 years of research and work with the Fischinger Archive. OPTICAL POETRY reveals fully his passion for the Fischinger legacy, and fully details his decades of archival work on the films.

Voice actor Tony Pope, who gave voice to Goofy and the Wolf in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, Detective Shunsaku Ban in the animated film METROPOLIS and Furby, an interactive toy that was the rage in 1998, has passed on at the age of 56. He died of complications following leg surgery Feb. 11, 2004 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.

Stage and voice actor Jason Raise died last week of an apparent suicide in Yass, Australia, reported Broadway.com. He was 28.

Raize voiced the character of Denahi from Disney's BROTHER BEAR. He made his Broadway breakthrough as the original Simba in the stage version of THE LION KING.

Raize is survived by his father Robert Rothenberg, mother Sarah MacArthur, sister Lisa Williams, stepmother Monet Rothenberg, stepfather Jim Kidd and four stepbrothers and two stepsisters.

Longtime Disney artist John Hench passed away on Feb. 5, 2004 after suffering heart failure after a brief illness and hospitalization at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He was 95 years old.

CAPTAIN KANGAROO host Bob Keeshan died in Montpelier, Vermont on Jan. 23, 2004, reports CNN. He was 76 and had been suffering from a long illness. Keeshan hosted the CBS children's show from 1955 to 1985. The classic UPA TOM TERRIFIC series, created by Gene Deitch, was created specifically to air on CAPTAIN KANGAROO. He started working in entertainment as a NBC page during high school. For five years, he played the silent Clarabell the Clown on THE HOWDY DOODY SHOW.

Veteran MAD magazine illustrator George Woodbridge has passed away, reported the ASSOCIATED PRESS. He died of emphysema on Jan. 20, 2004 at the age of 73. Starting as a freelance artist for MAD in 1957, Woodbridge was best known for his detailed pen-and-ink drawings. A perfectionist when it came to authenticity, he also contributed drawings for military history books, including the three-volume, AMERICAN MILITARY EQUIPAGE, 1851-1872.