We have recieved news that Joe Ranft, Head of Story at Pixar for more than a decade has died in a car accident on Tuesday.
Joe was a co-writer on Toy Story, for which he earned an Oscar nomination, and A Bug’s Life. Before Pixar, he was a leading member of the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he was a writer on Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
“Joe was an important and beloved member of the Pixar family, and his loss is of great sorrow to all of us and to the animation industry as a whole,” said Pixar on Wednesday. In addition to his work as a writer, Joe performed the voices for numerous characters in Pixar features. His most well known being Heimlich the Caterpillar from A Bug’s Life.
He also did voices for Wheezy the Penguin in Toy Story 2 and Jaques in Finding Nemo.
The following is c/o the regularly updated page here at Cartoon Brew.
Pixar story artist Ronnie del Carmen writes in his BLOG:
People cannot say much but just gave each other embraces to quell the sadness. Eventually we all met at the atrium. It is the saddest day at Pixar. The population at work had never been this silent except for the sound of grief. Ed Catmull, visibly shaken walked out to deliver the sad news. John Lasseter stood beside him but could not speak…Joe is the very best story man ever and the best human being I’ve known in animation. He is mentor, friend and inspiration to all of us who do this job. The last meeting I had with Joe was a Story Lead meeting where we share the collective known knowlege of those of us who’ve done Head of story jobs. Great stories of how to and why. And we earmark things we want to improve. As always with Joe it was about accentuating the positive and finding what works with people. I will miss him.
Pixar story artist Enrico Casarosa writes in his journal:
Joe Ranft, the heart of Pixar, was killed yesterday in a car accident. We are all hit hard by this sudden news and we’re all beyond sadness here at the studio. Joe’s contribution to Animation has been immense and far reaching. He taught and mentored a whole generation of creators, I can’t even begin to describe how dearly he will be missed. His spirit and legacy will live on through the hundreds of stories that are being told and will be told by all the artists and directors he mentored and inspired. A prayer from all our community goes to his family.
A report on this blog by Tara about the scene at Pixar:
Yesterday the main story guy at Pixar, Joe Ranft, passed away in a car accident near Mendocino. He’d been at the studio since ’92, and been a lead person on just about every movie made here, so everybody knew him. They called a company meeting at 10am, but the news was already known by then. I walked into the Atrium to over 700 people standing silently, looking at Ed Catmull and John Lasseter try to speak through their grief. … I’d never seen an entire company come screeching to a halt the way it did today. It was sobering, though also sort of beautiful. I’m sure Joe would have been pleased to know how loved he was.
Joe Ranft c/o LaughingPalace.com
You can read Joe’s profile at Pixar’s Artists Corner here.
Joe will be sadly missed by all and my condolences go out to Joe’s family, friends and co-workers. We will miss you Joe.
Last modified: August 18, 2005