Lou Scheimer, who founded the Filmation animation studio that produced popular Saturday morning cartoons has died aged 84.
Scheimer's company was the largest animation operation in the US in the early 1980s by number of employees, and produced shows including Fat Albert, The Archie Show, Superman, Batman, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Aquaman.
Scheimer founded the company in 1962 with a 5,000 dollar (£3,100) loan from his mother-in-law. He won a Daytime Emmy Award as a producer of the 1974-75 season of the Star Trek animated series.
In 1969, the company was sold to a cable operator that was bought by Westinghouse. Scheimer continued to head Filmation but retired several years ago.
Filmation was bought by French investors in 1989.
Many fans of Mr Scheimer's work took to Twitter to post messages of condolence.
Khaver Siddiqi said: 'Lou Scheimer. Father of He-Man and many other animated series just passed away. RIP. He gave us the power.'
The cast of Fat Albert: The show is one of many popular cartoons created by Lou Scheimer and his Filmation studio
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was another of the much-loved cartoons Filmation produced
Chris Cummins, referencing the scrolling background scenes on many Filmation cartoons, wrote: 'R.I.P Lou Scheimer. He's up in heaven now, walking by the same clouds repeatedly.'
The Startrek Restoration page posted a message most would surely agree with: 'RIP Lou Sceimer of Filmation, without you children's television would not be the same.'
Meanwhile, MichaelAaronFrandy wrote: 'RIP Lou Scheimer: one of the chief architects of my childhood TV watching. So much rotoscoped goodness.'
