Attention anime fans, renowned voice actor Mike McFarland (Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO – Super Limit – Breaking NEO, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2) has passed away. The actor had died with glioblastoma an aggressive form of brain cancer.

For those who don’t know, McFarland was born on July 14, 1970 in Texas City, Texas. The aspiring voice actor studied theater and music at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1997 McFarland got his first voice acting and directing job for Funimation, where he voiced Master Roshi on the popular anime called Dragon Ball Z. After his success on Dragon Ball he would later receive other voice acting roles that would pave the way for his talent.

According to Deadline, Crunchyroll issued this statement regarding his passing: “Mike brought so much to all of us who knew him, and to all of the anime fans that knew his work. He was an incredible talent, a good friend to so many of us, and will be sorely, sorely missed.” McFarland is also known for voice acting Buggy the Clown on the well known anime known as One Piece. He also played Jean Kirstein on Attack on Titan, Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist, and Teppei Sugo in Psycho Pass. He also voiced Makoto Hyuga in the Evangelion film series, Goemon Ishikawa in Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, and Hiroshi Odokawa in Odd Taxi. 

According to Variety, McFarland was forced to drop out of Central Florida Comic Con due to a brain tumor. Fellow voice actors J. Michael Tatum (My Hero Academia: All’s Justice, MF Ghost) and Brandon McInnis (The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, Classroom of the Elite) started a GoFundMe campaign in order to help their friend get the necessary treatment to remove the tumor. After multiple surgeries it was revealed that Mcfarland had an aggressive form brain cancer. McFarland may be gone, but his talents will never go unnoticed.