Artist William Ruzicka has passed away. The storyboard artist had been suffering from cold and flu symptoms for about a week. On February 1st when his conditions worsened, he tried to drive himself to a local urgent care but collapsed before reaching his car. Paramedics were called but were unable to resuscitate him. He was forty-five years old.
Longtime friend and collaborator Shaunt Nigoghossian announced his passing on LinkedIn saying "William was one of the sweetest, kindest, most hardworking people I've ever known. We’ve worked on seven shows together spanning twelve years time. He was a generous and thoughtful leader to his teams, a good friend and a good man."
Ruzicka was born on October 14th, 1977. He graduated from the animation program at California State University Northridge and worked as an intern at Marvel Lionsgate in 2008. He then started working at Hasbro Studios revising storyboards on their shows Transformers Prime, G. I. Joe Renegades, and Transformers: Rescuebots. He later became a director on the animated show Bunnicula. He would also provide storyboards for Ben 10: Omniverse, The Legend of Korra, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem, Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Lego Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood, DuckTales, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob, Invincible, Star Trek: Lower Decks, High Guardian Spice, and Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight. He provided storyboards for the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Second Chance Hero".
His family started a GoFundMe page, seen here, to help cover the cost of the funeral, with any additional funds going to a charity in his name.
