Once upon a time, Mr. Disney nicknamed nine of his best animators "The Nine Old Men." They were kind of like the Yankees of great character animation but they were, alas, old. Their names were Les Clark, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
Their animation will live forever but sadly, they couldn't. One day, there were only Eight Old Man. Then Seven. Then Six and so on. I was fortunate to meet the last three at a gathering in December of 2001. All of us present that night felt fortunate…and quite aware that these were men to be treasured and honored for as long as they could remain for us to treasure and honor.
Then there were two. Frank died in September of '04 and now Ollie's left us. We mourn not only his passing but the loss of that kind of wonderful, magical artist.
Jim Hill has a nice remembrance…the first of many I'm sure we'll see on the Internet in the coming days.