AWN reports that Emru Townsend, a renowned animation and technology writer, passed away after a fierce battle with leukemia. Townsend was a prolific writer on the subject of animation and contributed to such publications as Animation World Magazine, PC World, Sci-Fi Entertainment, Skwigly Animation Magazine, and was the founding editor of FPS Magazine. He was a regular on the animation festival circuit, a tech guru, and a teacher.
In December of 2007, he was diagnosed with leukemia and a condition called monosomy 7 in December of 2007. He was told that he needed a bone marrow transplant to save his life, and Emru turned his passion for writing into drive to not only fight his disease, but inform the world about leukemia and the importance of donor-ship. With his sister Tamu, he started HealEmru.com to document his battle.
Emru passed away yesterday evening, surrounded by family. Tamu posted this yesterday at HealEmru.com:
Emru’s name means RESPECT.
Emru, the person, also means compassion, learning, teaching, sharing, love, integrity, honesty, and inspiration.
He taught a lot of people a lot of things, but he spent 2008 teaching people how to reach out to one another in a whole new way. If you carry some of this forward, it will be a year even better spent.
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