Donald Lee Jurwich, beloved husband, father and grandfather, producer/director/writer, died peacefully at his home on July 13th, 2021, from natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Edna, his son, Stephen, his daughter, Jennifer, his son-in-law, Paul and
his grandson, Kyle.  Don was born on January 1st, 1934 in Los Angeles, California; the only child of Chester and Ruth Jurwich.

He was drafted into the army where he painfully served his two years and got the heck out. He was a great marksman—in fact, the army trained him as a sniper, but was never able to master the break down, cleaning and reassembling of his firearms, so was always getting yelled at. The army was no place for an artist like Don and he was happy to leave when his time was up. At that point, he became a student at Art Center, College of Design, thanks to the financial support of the GI bill. He made it up to his final semester there but, because of
financial constraints, had to leave school and get a full-time job.

He started his career in animation as a layout and background artist, worked his way up to storyboarding and eventually became a producer/director. Over the course of his 40-year career, he worked for various studios including Hanna-Barbera and Marvel Productions and contributed to classics such as the Road Runner, The Pink Panther, Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Flintstones, George of the Jungle, Yogi Bear, Tom & Jerry (along with their mini-me successor, the Tom & Jerry Kids Show). He produced the Emmy Nominated Saturday morning series, “The Smurfs,” along with “The Smurf Christmas Special,” and he worked on the cult classic, Heavy Metal. At Hanna-Barbera, he produced and directed Scooby Doo, The Superfriends, Captain Caveman, Richie Rich, Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, along with a one-hour prime-time special, “Scooby Goes to Hollywood.” At Marvel, he produced “Spiderman and His Amazing Friends,” and a one-hour
series, “The Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spiderman.” He also produced and directed 85 half-hour episodes of GI Joe, along with the miniseries, “GI Joe: The Movie,” which was later released as a feature film.

Once he began directing the recording sessions for his shows, he had the opportunity to work with such greats as Tex Avery, Don Messick (Scooby Doo) and Casey Kasem, and he had the honor of directing the “Man of Thousand Voices,” Mel Blanc, as Captain Caveman.

He also directed a short promotional film with Ringo Starr, worked as an art consultant for the UCLA Spanish department and taught classes in Storyboarding at Art Center College of Design.

Don’s career in animation afforded him the opportunity to live and work in foreign countries such as Mexico, Japan, Korea and Canada.

While he spent made his living working in cartoons, his passion was fine art, and when he finally retired, he was able to dedicate himself to drawing and painting full-time, culminating in 2 successful art shows at the Animation Guild in Burbank, CA, and a large body of work.

Don loved watching football, going to the movies (he was a proud member of the Motion Picture Academy for decades), traveling, and spending time with his family. His greatest joy in recent years has been his grandson, Kyle, who spent many hours on Grandpa’s lap learning how to draw and who also frequently beat him at chess.

He was a kind and generous man and he will be greatly missed by many.