Oh, this is a sad one. Writer Larry DiTillio has left us at the age of…well, I never knew how old Larry was. Online sources say he was 71 and that may be right but I would have guessed closer to 60. Until the last time I saw him, he was energetic and funny and quite excited about the many things he was working on. They included a couple of cartoon shows, a novel and several videogames.
Larry did a lot of work in all those categories. Much of his cartoon work was for Filmation where he started (I believe) on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and wrote for many of that studio's shows until he became one of the main writers behind He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Among his other credits in animation writing were She-Ra: Princess of Power, Hulk Hogan's Rock n' Wrestling, The Real Ghostbusters and The Transformers. He worked in live-action, as well including Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Babylon 5, The Hitchhiker and Murder, She Wrote.
He was also a very loyal member of the Writers Guild of America and a guy who donated plenty of his time and energy to Guild causes. A few years ago, they awarded him the Morgan Cox Award, which is what they give members who give of themselves that way. He was a fierce player of games and a very nice man. Every writer who knew him would attest how he was always willing to help anyone he could help in any way.
I think that last time I saw him was for lunch about a year and a half ago. He seemed older and slower, and his speech was a bit off…like he still had great, witty things to say but somehow couldn't get the words out of his mouth in the right order. Something clearly was wrong and I hoped it was temporary. Later, I heard it was not and the last few months, folks told me he was in hospice though not why.
Like I said, this is a sad one — a very sad one. And you won't find anyone who was fortunate enough to be this guy's friend who isn't depressed by the news. I sure am.
[UPDATE, 10:09 PM: When I originally posted this, I quoted online sources that said Larry was 79 and said I would have thought he was much younger. He was. It turns out he was 71. He didn't strike me as that old, either.]