True, but at ILM, he was the man to go to for VERY complex particle shots, and now that he's gone, ILM's particle team has to go on leaderless at least for a while.
Not only did he create, and concept most of the particle shots he worked on, he also developed most of the proprietary Maya particle plugins for them.
He will be missed is all
Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com