Igor Khait Dead: Animation Producer Was 52

August 30, 2024

Igor Khait, an animation producer who worked on such projects as Family Dog, The Lego Movie and Universal Pictures’ upcoming feature Sing, has died. He was 52.

Khait, who served as an associate producer on Walt Disney Studios’ Brother Bear, a 2004 Oscar nominee for best animated feature, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer, his family said.

Until recently, Khait had been in Paris working as a co-producer on Illumination Entertainment’s Sing, starring Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey.

Khait began his career in 1989 at Amblin Entertainment and eventually worked at many of the industry’s top animation studios.

He was a producer on Leroy and Stitch (2006), Everyone’s Hero (2006) and Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) and story department co-producer on The Lego Movie (2014). He also served as production manager on Bebe’s Kids (1992), Quest for Camelot (1998) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).

Earlier, Khait worked in production on the CBS animated series Family Dog, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton, and on the animated Christmas special A Wish for Wings That Work (1991), based on the “Bloom County” comic strip.

Khait received his B.A. in fine art from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a second B.A. in film graphics and animation from Cal Arts in Valencia, Calif.

Survivors include his wife Gayle and children Isabelle and Elias.

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