Four-time Oscar winner Stan Winston, who created some of the most memorable visual effects in cinematic history, passed away yesterday at age 62 after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma. The effects master helped bring the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, the extraterrestrials from Aliens, the robots from Terminator and even Edward Scissorhands to the big screen. He also won a makeup Oscar for 1992’s Batman Returns. He last worked with director Jon Favreau on Iron Man, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, G.I. Joe, and James Cameron’s Avatar. As a child growing up in Virginia, Stan enjoyed drawing, puppetry and classic horror films. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville in 1968, he moved to Southern California to become an actor but instead worked behind the scenes and completed a three-year makeup apprenticeship program at Walt Disney Studios in 1972. He is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren. Steven Spielberg said in a statement: “Stan was a fearless and courageous artist/inventor and for many projects, I rode his cutting edge from teddy bears to aliens to dinosaurs. My world would not have been the same without Stan. What I will miss most is his easy laugh every time he said to me, ‘Nothing is impossible.'” Producer Gale Anne Hurd said of Stan Winston: “He never looked at anything as a problem, it was always an opportunity. I never saw him defeatist, regardless of what may have happened. And he had an incredible childlike passion for films and for makeup effects and animatronics. Having him on set, regardless of whether you were going into your 19th hour or your first, he always gave 100 % and inspired everyone around him.” Check out AP, Variety, the L.A. Times, Reuters or the Hollywood Reporter for some of the many articles published today about this great man.