Pixar animator Ralph Eggleston dies at 56

Academy Award-winning animator and art director Ralph Eggleston, who worked with Pixar Animation Studios, died on Monday.

The technician died after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 56. He won the Oscar for the animated short film for writing and directing Pixar film For the Birds.

Born in 1965, Ralph won Annie Award for production design in Toy Story. He also won additional Annie Awards for Finding Nemo, and Inside Out.

Sharing a photo of Ralph, Pixar tweeted, "In memory of Ralph Eggleston—animator, director, art director, storyboard artist, writer, production designer, and our dear friend. Pixar and the world will be forever grateful."

Ralph also worked as art director for the original Toy Story and also worked as artist in several films, including Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Cars, The Incredibles, among others. His last work was the 2020 Soul where he worked as development artist under art department.

"Adios Maestro Ralph Eggleston. A true titan of our art form. He reached out to me after Book of Life and I will forever cherish our conversations. Before many knew he was sick he was trying to donate his spectacular art book collection to a Mexican animation school. That's Ralph," tweeted Jorge R Gutierrez, creator of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera and The Book of Life.