Ray daSilva of New York City, succumbed to respiratory failure in Valley Hospital Paramus NJ, after a bout with Covid19 on the 28th of April 2020. He was 85 years old.
Ray is survived by:
Daughters: Suzanne daSilva and her husband Andrea.
Inez Morrisey, her husband Chris and son Griffin.
Son: Steve daSilva and his children Thomas and Isabelle.
He is also survived by his nephews:
Raymond Carr and Michael Carr and many loving, extended family and friends.
Ray grew up in Manhattan, NYC and Hicksville, long Island. He graduated Hicksville High School in 1953. After high school he enlisted in the US Navy during the Korean War. After leaving the Navy he attended the well renowned School of Visual Arts in NYC, where he was asked back to teach as a guest professor, later on in life.
He began his career as a staff storyboard illustrator and conceptual artist for the major ad agencies in NYC. In the early 70’s, Ray started working in the commercial animation industry in NYC. One of the more well known PSA’s that he animated in the early 1980’s was “McGruff the Crime Dog”...take a bite out of crime!
His first foray in the world of film making was the film “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” directed by his brother, Raul daSilva in 1975. The film went on to win five awards in various international film festivals. Ray’s work in animation continued to win international awards, including an award for his animation sequence in the cult film “Heavy Metal.” He continued to work in commercial and feature film animation until he retired in 2014.
Ray was a modern day renaissance artist. He designed and built a Tudor style addition to the house where he and his family lived in NJ. He built the car that he drove... he even designed and sewed the leather interior of the car himself. His motto was; “You can do anything you want...you just need to put your mind to it.”
He also loved to ballroom dance and when he was younger was an instructor at Arthur Murray’s Dance Studio, which helped to pay his way through art school. Later in life he became interested in sculpture and went on to create a number of pieces for his friends and family.
He was a nobile, honest and kind man who helped a number of aspiring artists during his lifetime and who was very much loved by his family and friends
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