Monty Oum, an animator who worked with the Rooster Teeth studio, died Feb. 1, 10 days after he suffered a severe allergic reaction during a medical procedure and fell into a coma. He was 33.
The news was reported via a statement on the website for Rooster Teeth, which is a creative studio behind the likes of the Red vs. Blue animated web series. According to the post, Oum was well cared for and died surrounded by loved ones.
Oum is survived by his wife, Sheena; his father, Mony; his brothers Woody, Sey, Chivy and Neat; and his sisters Thea and Theary.
Monty Oum was allot like some of us in some ways as, like myself, shared a deep passion for anime. In his case, street fighter action that he would poor into his work of love (RWBY). What, I liked about him was his flexibility in the production process. If he ran into a roadblock, he would work around it some how! Time, Budget or Experience was not a barrier to him. Speaking of that, Monty Oum was a self thought individual that like most of us. He grew expediently with every project and sometimes made up unique and interesting ways of doing things along the way. Like many of the great artists before him, Monty Oum was a Rebel of the craft as he would often express to his many fans!
In the last week or so, before he was stricken, I overheard that he was marveling over the latest Maya release before I stopped hearing from him and later, when I had a moment to poke the internet, I learned about his death. I’m going to miss him and his funny world! He had really grown since the time I first saw him at A-Kon during the time of “Red vs. Blue” and I bereave that if he had lived on, that the world would have seen allot more of Monty Oum!