The Simpsons colleagues remember animator Edwin Aguilar, who fled El Salvador's civil war as a child

Los Angeles Times

Aguilar, who died last week at age 46 after a stroke, spent more than two decades at The Simpsons working as a layout artist and assistant director. He was considered a ray of "sunshine" and the "glue" that held the staff together. “He was extremely friendly and had a good heart,” said David Silverman, a director on The Simpsons, tells the Los Angeles Times. “He had a calm understanding about him and a wicked sense of humor. When you’re picking teams, you want him on your side. He would definitely have your back.” Aguilar was nine years old when he and his brother fled El Salvador's civil war, settling with his family in East Los Angeles. Raymond Persi, another former Simpsons director who knew Aguilar since art college, says "he was smuggled here when he was young. He was stuck in one of those containers, you know, where everyone has to (urinate and defecate) in one jar, and having to take all his clothes and cross the river in the middle of the night.” Silverman says Aguilar also had to avoid East L.A.'s gang life growing up -- he even had a gunshot wound to prove it. “It was pretty terrifying, what he went through, and the fact that he was able to overcome all of those things and work really hard to spread joy and love — the funniest thing about him being a tough guy, he always said he felt safe around us because we weren’t going to get into trouble," said Persi.