Veteran Disney Animator and Producer Randy Fullmer Has Passed Away
Randy Fullmer, a veteran Walt Disney Studios animator and producer, has died of cancer. He was 73.
Fullmer’s Disney career began when he joined the studio in 1987 to work on “Toon Town.” He eventually had an 18-year career at Disney working on animated projections including Oliver & Company, The Rescuers Down Under, and later The Hunchback of Notre Dame.


Photo: IMDB
A Key Member of The Disney Renaissance
During the Disney Renaissance of the late 1980s and 1990s, Fullmer was a key member of many of Disney’s most popular films. He was credited as an effects animator on The Little Mermaid, a visual effects supervisor on Beauty and the Beast, and an artistic coordinator on The Lion King. Later, Fullmer would produce The Empoeror’s New Groove and Chicken Little.


Image: Disney
“Most people are good at one thing in their lives. Randy was good at a lot of things,” wrote Don Hahn, whom Fullmer worked with on Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. “He could draw and paint beautifully, but he had the mind of an engineer, and the heart of an artisan. And he was great at animation; great at producing movies, too. He was at the very center of the Disney Renaissance in animation, then when he needed a new chapter in his life, he started making exquisite and much sought-after bass guitars with that same engineer’s mind and artistic soul he brought to Disney animated movies. His masterful woodwork radiates with his love for the craftsman ethic of working with head, hands and heart. I miss him but I carry his passion and joy with me every day. Always will.”


Don Hahn remembered Randy Fullmer as someone with the heart of an artisan.
Work Outside of Disney
Outside of Disney, after graduating from Washington State University, Fullmer operated his own animation business which created segments for Sesame Street among other TV programs. In 1983, he joined Don Bluth Studios, before moving to Apogee.
After he retired from animation, Fullmer launched Wyn Guitars in 2006. His company crafted guitars for Abraham Laboriel, James LoMenzo, Jimmy Haslip, Isaias Elpes, Stewart McKinsey, Robin Zielhorst, Maurice Fitzgerald, Adam Johnson, Jermaine Jackson, Ethan Farmer, and Fernando “Psycho” Vallin among others.


Photo: Guitar World
Fullmer is survived by his wife; Diana, stepdaughter; Becky Kuriyama, stepson; Nick Kuriyama, sister; Cathy Lou Tusler and stepbrother; Scott Landon. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
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