Michael (Mike) Toth, an iconic Disney Renaissance animator who worked on projects including “Mulan,” “Hercules,” “Tarzan,” and more, has passed away.
Mike Toth
Image courtesy of Christine Vegara.
Mike Toth passed away on December 29, 2024. The news was shared today in a post on the Cartoon Research Facebook page by his daughter Christine Vegara.
Toth’s daughter shared that after losing his job with Walt Disney Studios, her father battled alcoholism and struggled with finding a home in Los Angeles for several years. Vegara added, “I just wanted to share my dad’s story, and awareness to those struggling with alcohol or substance abuse. My dad was a wonderful man, and alcohol cut his time short. Please enjoy his art.”
Mike Toth began working as an animator Filmation Studios in 1978, working on classic cartoons including “The New Adventures of Tom and Jerry” and “Ghostbusters.” Toth also completed a few freelance projects Bill Melendez on the Peanuts projects “This Is America, Charlie Brown” and “It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown.”
Mike Toth began working for Disney at the end of the 1980s and moved to the Walt Disney Feature Animation studios in Burbank in the mid-1990s. Toth worked as a character and effects animator on several Disney animated films, including “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules,” “Mulan,” “Tarzan,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” and “Home on the Range.” Toth also worked on the short film “The Little Matchgirl,” which was nominated for an Oscar award.
Toth continued to share his love of animation and appeared at several comic-cons across the country.
We at WDWNT send our thoughts and condolences to Toth’s family.
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