Joe Ranft

Today would have been Joe Ranft's 50th birthday.

Joe, as many of you know and some of you don't, was a Disney ... then a Pixar writer, director, and story artist. He died in a car accident on Highway 1 in California almost five years ago.

He was one of the great talents of animation. Ever.

Last Thursday, some of the Disney staff members who had known him, worked with him and loved him paid tribute to Joe in the first-floor theater of the Hat Building in Burbank. (There might have been remembrances at Pixar, too, but the Burbank tribute is the one I know about.)

Director John Musker presented this tribute, which pretty much says it all ...

For some reason, it's the brightest and most radiant lights who always leave the party first. We still miss you, Joe.