Syd Mead, a towering name in the world of science fiction visuals renowned for his work on Blade Runner and a host of other hugely influential films, has passed away at the age of 86.
Longtime partner and collaborator Roger Servick, manager of businessaffairs for Syd Mead Inc., confirmed to SYFY WIRE that Mead passed awayin Pasadena, California, today after a prolonged period of declining health.
“Syd Mead passed away this morning at 4:30 AM PST here in Pasadena, CA,” Servick told SYFY WIRE via email. “He had been in failing health for quite sometime due to lymphoma cancer and had been undergoing treatment this past year, with City of Hope in Durate, CA.”
An artist whose work helped shape films like Aliens, Star Trek, Tron, and more, Mead was set to be honored for his career achievements with the Art Directors Guild's William Cameron Menzies Award at the Guild’s upcoming annual awards event in February.
A self-described "visual futurist" (a term he created while working on Ridley Scott's Blade Runner), Mead's giftfor design was broad and far-ranging, encompassing everything from architectural renderings for the real-world built environment to fantasical concepts forplaces he created — and shared — that first existed only in his own mind.
Friends and fans from across the sci-fi spectrum poured out their best memories on social media, with Mead’s undeniable influence on their lifelongappreciation of the genre's limitless imaginative possibilities evident across the board:
RIP Syd Mead. He was one of the greatest designers and futurists of our times. Syd Mead passed away this morning. His work was utterly fantastic, inspiring and influenced me deeply. #RIP #SydMead #RIPSydMead pic.twitter.com/Es1x8wy7G0
— Dan Haigh (@Dan_Haigh) December 30, 2019
One of THE big film design gods has left this plane. His astounding legacy in cinema and gigantic influence in all of us is unmeasurable. What an insane mark he left as an artist. He left cinema better than he found it. Gracias, maestro #SydMead https://t.co/y4F4Ty0y1o
— Jorge R. Gutierrez (@mexopolis) December 30, 2019
Itâs hard hearing of #SydMeadâs passing. Today he leaves us, but his influence and impact will live on through his incredible body of work and all the people he has inspired along the way. Always an inspiration. RIP Syd pic.twitter.com/N4PqCrR1lM
— Jarlan Perez (@JarlanPerez) December 30, 2019
RIP #sydmead. The man who made me want to design the future. pic.twitter.com/2rKkyOT7iL
— Cameron Sinclair (@casinclair) December 30, 2019
It breaks my heart to hear Syd Mead, the visionary designer of Blade Runner, has passed. Syd Mead helped Ridley Scott create the most influential and compelling future ever committed to film. He is lost now like tears in rain. RIP Syd Mead. You've done a man's work sir. #sydmead pic.twitter.com/OcPrbg1Rtf
— Doomcock (@doomcock) December 30, 2019
Rest in peace genius. ð¢ Your work will never be forgotten.#SydMead pic.twitter.com/Ws9I8qeS7r
— ION ð (@ionlands) December 30, 2019
Crazy to hear that Syd Mead died, but it is even crazier to learn he was born in 1933. One of the few who can be truly said to be ahead of his time. 86 is a damn respectable age for a damn respectable man, rest in peace pic.twitter.com/KnM23v8q7s
— Jules(but also Lance) (@WhensArmCore6) December 30, 2019
Syd Mead was a world builder the likes of which cinema had never seen, and probably won't see again. Such a pleasure to interview him for my BLADE RUNNER and ALIENS docs, and I'll forever be inspired by his visionary art. Condolences to Roger, Syd's family, friends and many fans. https://t.co/YNZOSxL2xJ
— Chills die Lauzi-shriek-a (@Lauzirika) December 30, 2019
— No Code (@_NoCode) December 30, 2019Just discovered that one of the most influential artists and futurists ever known, #SydMead, has sadly passed away. His work has a gargantuan influence on anything remotely sci-fi, both in fiction and nowadays in our real lives.
Our thoughts are with his family â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/elKXW6b3Yy
Staying positive and a reminder: A legend in art & Design, Syd Mead influences the world around us in every way. He looks at what we know & takes it further- inspiring inventors, writers, and illustrators all over the world. pic.twitter.com/CPE6ymPnky
— Jimmy " PainkillerJane Kickstarter live" Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) December 30, 2019
— beeple (@beeple) December 30, 2019raw imagination, sense of color / composition, storytelling ability, vision of future, amazing style, etc. etc. etc.
i'd be pretty happy **IF** i could be like 1/4 as good as syd mead by the time i die. ððð pic.twitter.com/7X80CK4jWy
— Karla Ortiz (@kortizart) December 30, 2019A legend has left us today.
His vision changed our culture, our collective perception of what is possible, and inspired so many of us today.
With a heavy and saddened heart, I say, R.I.P Syd Mead. pic.twitter.com/MnDT8ZuFia
Born in 1933 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mead worked as a designer in the automotive industry after serving in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. He founded his own design company, Syd Mead, Inc. in 1970, leading to work later in the decade on what became a steady roster of visually arresting futuristic movies that now define science fiction: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1978), Blade Runner (1982), Tron (1982), Short Circuit (1986), Aliens (1986), Timecop (1994), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Elysium (2013), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017), for which he again provided the futurescape design to bring Phillip K. Dick’s dystopian vision of a fallen Los Angeles of the future to life.
Servick said that arrangements for a private "Celebration of Life" service for Mead are pending in Pasadena.
(With reporting by Jeff Spry)
