Hollywood, the film viewing public, and the special visual effects

industry lost a pioneer and giant when Stan Winston passed away

 at the age of 62 after a long battle with multiple myeloma.

Stan hailed from Virginia and at an early age his love for Disney cartoons,

Universal Studios classic monters, and Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion

animation creatures led him to pursue a career in special visual effects.

Stan's work included John Carpenter's The Thing, Aliens, The Terminator,

Edward Scissorhands, Jurassic Park, A.I.: Artificial Inteligence, and most

recently work on Iron Man. Fans who would like to review Winston's work can

benefit from his website at Stan Winston Productions, and

Jody Duncan's The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio

(Titan Books, 2006). A story on Winston's passing from the

Los Angeles Times can be found here.