Ryan Larkin (1943-2007)

Apologies, folks...thank goodness for Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Brew, cause this slipped under my radar completely, and I feel like a complete ass. From Jerry's blog:

"Here are a few more details about Larkin’s passing from an email written by his longtime friend, Felicity Fanjoy:

Ryan departed this life on Valentine’s Day around eleven o’clock in the evening. He died in the palliative care unit of the Hotel Dieu Hospital in St. Hyacinthe QC of lung cancer that had spread to the brain.

Before slipping into unconsciousness at the beginning of this week, his last words to Laurie Gordon (his guardian angel who, along with her family, have encouraged, supported and helped Ryan in every way possible in the last couple of years) were: ‘I’m happy. I’m okay. I like it here.’ A few days earlier he also said, ‘I just want to rest and rest and rest and rest and rest until the end of my days.’ And that is what he did."

I feel doubly the ass for not really knowing the man's work. If you don't, here's his 1965 piece, 'Syrinx'. Spare the booze and lift a mug o' soda or tea, we've lost us a good one. Meanwhile, I'm gonna raid the TAIS library for more of his work. Special thanks to YouTube-er lepecheurdeperles for uploading Syrinx.