Iwao Takamoto, the creator of Scooby Doo and a current vice president of Warner Bros. Animation has died. He was 81.

Takamoto worked for Walt Disney on projects including Cinderella and Peter Pan before moving to Hanna-Barbera in 1961. In addition to Scooby Doo, he created the snickering cartoon dog Muttley, Astro on the Jetsons, and he worked on numerous other well known cartoons.

Recent projects included story boarding the 2005 Tom and Jerry short "The Karateguard" and character design for the currently airing series "Krypto the Super Dog."

He is survived by his wife Barbara and two children.