Updated On: 21 April, 2020 10:18 AM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Gene Deitch, the man behind Tom and Jerry and Popeye, will always be remembered as the creator and animator that created millions of memories and made our childhoods a lot more animated!

Gene Deitch Picture Courtesy: YouTube
It's impossible for someone's childhood to have existed without Tom and Jerry and Popeye. It's also difficult to imagine that someone might have grown up without reading the immensely enjoyable comic- Tom Terrific. The one thing that unites all three of them is Gene Deitch, the director of these historic cartoon characters! He passed away on April 16 at the age of 95.
It wouldn't be wrong to describe him as the man that accidentally created history. He was trained to become a pilot but destiny pushed him towards the field of creativity and cartoons. And as he began to get excited and enamoured by the world of animation, he gave birth to some characters that not only defined our childhoods but somehow became an integral and important part of them- Tom and Jerry and Popeye!