Rooster Teeth Lead Animator and “RWBY” Creator Monty Oum Dies at 33
Monty Oum, speaking at a convention. Photo Credit by Roosterteeth Wikia
Mike LaPorte, Live Wire Marketing/Advertising Director
The lead animator at Rooster Teeth Productions and the creator of the critically acclaimed anime “RWBY,” pronounced as “Ruby,” Monty Oum, passed away on Sunday at the age of 33. Oum was previously known for creating the animated shorts “Haloid” and “Dead Fantasy,” which were both spin-offs of popular video games.
The news broke to the Rooster Teeth community on Friday afternoon in a statement posted to the website by creative director and co-founder, Burnie Burns. Burns had a crowdfunding project and started to raise money to cover for Oum’s medical expenses that would accumulate once the procedures began. In five hours, the community raised over $100,000 for Oum and his wife, Sheena.
Company CEO Matt Hullum made the statement on Monday afternoon. “Your generosity during the hours after the public statement on Friday will help his family deal with the costs of his care and his passing,” Hullum wrote.
The news came as a complete shock to everyone involved in Rooster Teeth, both community and staff. “Slow Mo Guys” co-creator and “Achievement Hunter” producer Gavin Free wrote, “He was the hardest working, kindest, most caring dude I knew. And probably the greatest wingman of all time. I owe so much to him. Including the relationship I am in with Meg [Turney].”
Animator Patrick Rodriguez wrote, “When I first came to the studio, nobody really knew I was going to work on ‘RWBY’ until I was brought in one morning. It came as a bit of a rude shock to some people, but Monty seemed more excited than anything else.”
Oum was brought onto the Rooster Teeth team in 2010 to assist in the production of “Red vs. Blue” Season 8. He created the first ever CGI scenes for the company in his production of Season 8, and after he finished with Season 10, he got to work on his next big project, “RWBY.”
Courtesy of Comic Vine
He is survived by his wife, Sheena, his father Mony, his two sisters and his four brothers. Hullum requests that in lieu of flowers and gifts for Oum’s family and the company, the community use their creative senses to make their own tributes to Oum and his work. “If you know Monty like we do, then you know he would certainly be doing that if he were able to,” Hullum said.
