Calarts Campus

Milton Quon ’39 (1913–2019)

Chouinard alumnus and Disney animator Milton Quon passed away on June 18 at the age of 105. Quon joined Disney in 1939, where his work on Fantasia (1940) included his contributions to the “Waltz of the Flowers” and the “Arabian Dance” scenes. He was also first assistant animator on Dumbo (1941).

Born to immigrant parents from Canton in Los Angeles in 1913, Quon had seven siblings, all sisters. He received a scholarship to Chouinard, and as a young freelance graphic designer Quon designed menus and other graphics for restaurants in L.A.’s Chinatown including Man Jen Low, Grandview Gardens and Soochow Restaurant. His exterior signage for Grandview Gardens is an historic landmark.

After serving in World War II, Quon ran Disney’s publicity and promotions department, for which he designed promotional art for films such as Make Mine Music and Song of the South (1946).

Later in his career, Quon designed for the advertising agency BBD&O and for Sealright Co., a large packaging firm, for which he worked from 1964 to 1980. He also taught drawing, painting, and advertising courses at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College from 1974-89. A retrospective of Quon’s work was exhibited at The Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles in 2005; and he received the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California in 2013.

Quon was also an actor whose film credits include The Cat Killers (2000), Sweet Jane (1998), Speed (1994), Chill Factor (1989), and TV’s, NYPD Blue.