The animation world lost a beloved legend on August 26 with the passing of Joe Ruby. One half of the acclaimed Ruby-Spears team, he co-created, along with Ken Spears, the most recognizable cartoon pooch of all time: Scooby-Doo.
Ruby’s career began at Walt Disney Productions, but he gained his fame at Hanna-Barbera, where he co-created Dynomutt, Dog Wonder and Jabberjaw, along with Scooby-Doo. He and Spears supervised the production of CBS’s Saturday morning cartoon lineup until they set up their own eponymous studio in 1977. At Ruby-Spears Productions, their ventures included Fangface, Thundarr the Barbarian, Mister T and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Born in 1933, Ruby will be greatly missed by those in the industry. Eric Semones, who worked on the original Scooby-Doo, was hired by Ruby and Spears to head up their studio’s background department. Of working with Ruby, Semones says, “That was a fantastic opportunity. I was very blessed and fortunate.”
