A Disney spokesperson confirmed that their long time employee Rob Gibbs has passed away. The cause of his death has not been announced to the public as of this writing. Gibbs had worked as an animator for Disney and Pixar for over 20 years.
At the time of his passing, Gibbs had been working on a spin-off series of Monsters Inc., one of the many projects that he had participated in. In fact, Gibbs’ daughter Mary was the voice actor for the character of Boo, the young girl from the Monsters, Inc. franchise.
Born in California, Gibbs’ interest in animations began as he fell in love with cartoons like Looney Tunes and Popeye. He attended Palomar College and California Institute of the Arts before he started working for Disney.
During his time at Disney in the story and visuals department, Gibbs is credited with working on Pocahontas, Fantasia 2000 and other smaller features.
After moving to Pixar in 1998, his first work with Pixar was on Toy Story 2 that was released in 1999. Since then, he had lent his hands on many beloved classics from Pixar, such as Finding Nemo (2003) and Wall-E (2008) and Up (2009).
Moreover, he also had a talent for directing. Although he did not direct any of the Pixar movie releases, he wrote and directed many of the television programs that Pixar has put out. He had been working on a show titled Hump prior to his death.
Many of his colleagues and friends expressed their condolences. A common message from everyone was how Gibbs was a great talent and an even greater friend to be around with. Amin Matalqa, who had been working with Gibbs on Hump, share his story on Facebook.
According to Matalqa, Gibbs was always someone who could make you smile by telling a joke. He recalled the times that they would dine together, where Gibbs would share personal stories about the film industry.
Fellow animator and creator of Cartoon Network’s popular We Bare Bear series Daniel Chong also remembered the warmth of Gibbs, along with how much he cared for the people he worked with.
We give our greatest condolences to all his family and loved ones. His memory will live on through the wonderful repertoire of work he is leaving behind for all of us.
Replaced!