Wow, first Tim Russert, now this. From the LA Times:

Stan Winston, an Oscar-winning visual effects artist, has died at age 62.

Winston died at home Sunday evening after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a rep from Stan Winston Studio.

This is very sad news. Stan Winston was one of the men whose incredible, otherworldly designs of robots, gods and monsters were an indelible part of my life growing up (and many of which reside in my action figure collection to this day). He will be missed.