American veteran anime voice actor Mike McFarland has died at the age of 56 following a battle with brain cancer.
Brina Palencia, a friend of McFarland, announced his death on Wednesday.
Palencia said McFarland spent his final days surrounded by friends and family at a care facility in Dallas.
She said friends from the voice-over community visited him in the months before his death, singing songs and sharing stories to lift his spirits.
Palencia also said McFarland would have wanted people to make donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the SPCA in his memory.
Several of his colleagues in the voice-over community also took to social media to honour him.
In an Instagram tribute, voice actor Matt Mercer expressed his sadness over McFarland’s death, describing him as a close friend who was witty, welcoming and talented. He also recalled some of the memorable moments they shared over the years.
Mercer said McFarland had played an important role in his career by giving him opportunities to work on projects including ‘Attack on Titan’ and ‘One Piece’.
“Been swinging between numb and emotional since yesterday. Mike McFarland has been a source of joy for so many for so long. One of my favorite directors to work with over the years, he took chances on bringing me onto projects that have defined much of my career (AoT, One Piece, etc), but more than that, he was a brilliant friend,” he wrote.
“From letting me crash at his place whenever visiting Texas, to dancing at goth clubs in Dallas, to paling around conventions or having adventures whenever he stopped on the west Coast, it was always a time filled with laughter.
“He was terrifyingly clever and witty. He was welcoming and playful. He was talented as fuck. He was brilliant. It is so unfair that we lost you so soon. Miss you, buddy. Rest well.”
McFarland was regarded as one of the original and influential figures in Texas-based anime production.
Beyond voice acting, he worked as a scriptwriter, director and line producer on English dubs of Japanese anime.
He was best known for providing the original English voice in Funimation’s dubs of ‘Dragon Ball’ and ‘Dragon Ball Z’.
His other notable roles included characters in ‘Psycho-Pass’, ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’, Buggy the Clown in Funimation’s dub of ‘One Piece’, and ‘Attack on Titan’.
McFarland also worked as a voice director on several Funimation productions, including ‘Dragon Ball’, ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’, ‘Case Closed’ and ‘Attack on Titan’, as well as the ‘Rebuild of Evangelion’ films and ‘Summer Wars’.