Con Pederson, one of the special effects supervisors on Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey,' died on January 2 at age 91 from complications of Alzheimer's disease. His work helped the 1968 film earn an Oscar for best visual effects in 1969. Pederson's career spanned animation, military projects and pioneering computer graphics firms.
Con Pederson passed away at the MPTF residence in Woodland Hills, California, following complications from Alzheimer's. He was 91 and is survived by his wife Carole, son Eric, stepchildren Tracey and Morgan, and grandchildren Alex and Vivi.
Pederson played a pivotal role in the visual effects of '2001: A Space Odyssey,' working alongside supervisors Douglas Trumbull, Wally Veevers and Tom Howard. He managed the 'war room,' where visual effects shots were planned, scheduled, tracked and evaluated. Each shot involved adding eight to ten elements to the original camera negative, a process that spanned months and contributed to the film's groundbreaking sci-fi visuals.
In Michael Benson's 2018 book 'Space Odyssey,' Trumbull is quoted praising Pederson: 'The film’s post-production process was epic in its complexity and Con was the smartest guy in the room.' Trumbull added, ''2001' absolutely would not have happened without Con.'
Before '2001,' Pederson studied art and anthropology at UCLA and created student films that led to a job at Disney. Drafted into the U.S. Army, he collaborated with Wernher von Braun on rocket projects. Later, at Graphic Films, he wrote and directed the 1964 short 'To The Moon And Beyond' for the world's fair, which caught Kubrick's attention and secured his role on the film.
Post-'2001,' Pederson co-founded Robert Abel and Associates, a pioneering computer animation company, where he served as an animator and programmer with Bob Abel. After its closure, he became a creative lead at Metrolight Studios with Tim McGovern. John Nelson, who met him there, remembered Pederson as 'a constant source of wisdom and knowledge' and 'a Renaissance man who was both an artist and a technician.' Nelson noted that several alumni from the company, including himself, later won Oscars for visual effects.
Outside his professional life, Pederson crafted crossword puzzles published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. He enjoyed science fiction, hiking, sailing and building with bricks collected nationwide.
