Ruiz, Pepe

Pepe Ruiz (1914–1993) was a key figure in the history of animation labor organizing in both Hollywood and New York. Born in Cuba, Ruiz began his career as an assistant animator at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in Los Angeles, where he played an important role in helping organize the studio’s successful animation union drive in 1941.

In 1943, at the request of Guild president Eric Larson, Ruiz relocated to New York to assist animators at Famous Studios in forming a new local after the return of operations from the Fleischers’ wartime move to Miami. By that point, the earlier union that had confronted management during the 1937 Fleischer strike—the CADU—had largely collapsed following the relocation of Fleischer Studios to Florida.

Ruiz went on to serve as business agent during the hard-fought Terrytoons Strike, one of the most contentious labor battles in New York animation history. In 1952, as Hollywood unions were being weakened by the blacklist and similar hearings were being prepared in New York, Ruiz made the strategic decision to merge his guild into the umbrella of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), establishing it as Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 841. He remained business agent of Local 841 until his retirement in 1968.

Ruiz’s life ended tragically in 1993, when he was struck and killed by a car driven by R&B singer Wilson Pickett, who was driving under the influence. Animator Shamus Culhane—who had opened his own studio in 1948—often portrayed Ruiz as an adversary in his memoirs, reflecting the tensions between independent producers and union leadership. Culhane later acknowledged that he felt some regret about how harshly he had judged Ruiz.

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