Iwao Takamoto, who was one of the lead animators at Hanna-Barbera in its heyday (1960-75), has passed away at 81. Many of you are probably familiar with some of his creations: Scooby-Doo, Astro, Muttley.
Here's an obit from one of my local TV stations.And here's the obit from cnn.com.
[Updated 14:42 EST] Things I didn't know about him:
* Like many (if not all) Japanese-Americans, he spent time at an internment camp.
* He used to work for Disney, and studied under the "Nine Old Men".