Animation producer J Michael Mendel, popular for his work on The Simpsons and Rick and Morty, died on Sunday, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The four-time Emmy award-winner was 54.
Co-creator of Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland, wrote on Twitter: "I don't know what I'm going to do without you by my side Mike. I'm destroyed."
Mendel moved from his gig as a post production supervisor on Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show to The Simpsons in 1989 when it was spun off as its own series. He served as a line producer, working between James L. Brooks' Gracie Films and the network to make sure the show was finished on time and within the budget.
Mendel had various producer credits on 207 episodes of the Simpsons, from 1989 to 1999 and won Emmys for his work in 1995, '97 and '98.
He then teamed with Roiland as his line producer on Rick and Morty. He was awarded another Emmy in 2018.
Born on September 24, 1964, Mendel attended Monroe Woodbury High School in Woodbury, New York, and Syracuse University.
Mendel's animation credits also include The Critic, The PJs, The Oblongs, The Pitts Kid Notorious Drawn Together, Sit Down, Shut Up, Good Vibes, and Napoleon Dynamite.
