Most of you probably do not know Fred Patten. But you likely have at some point felt his impact on the animation world and moreso if you happen to like anime.
I knew Fred only briefly as one of my early customers would later end up having a short story in one of Fred's anthology books. Which unfortunately is how I discovered that Fred Patten had passed away just 8 days ago on the 12th.
Fred was influential in the animation and anime industry and was well known for his connections and interviews and especially books about Anime and animation over the decades. He got the word out and was editor for various magazines in the US and Japan even. Fred was also an early member of Streamline as his connections were extensive and had some bemusing anecdotes about why certain things happened the way they did due to the changing tides of fandom and the mercurial and oft ephemeral nature of animation studios.
QuoteFred was considered one of the founders of anime fandom in the United States, and one of the country's leading experts on anime and manga. He was an employee for Streamline Pictures, a dubbing company for Japanese anime titles, from January 1991 until it went out of business in 2002. Fred was the official editor of the Rowrbrazzle APA from 1989 to 2005. And the founder of the Ursa Major Award.
Busy fellow indeed even after a stroke in the early 2000's