Fumi Kitahara Otto

Fumi Kitahara Otto passed away on February 24, 2025 due to complications related to her long battle with a rare blood cancer. She was 56 years old, just shy of her upcoming 57th birthday on March 2, 2025.

Fumi was the second child of Hironori and Teruko Kitahara, sibling to older brother Keiichi and younger sister Hiroko. She was raised in West Los Angeles and graduated from California State University Northridge with a degree in Business Marketing.

Fumi’s professional path led to her being recognized as a premier publicist for the Animation industry. She launched her 30-plus year career in 1992 at The Walt Disney Studios where she worked on the film releases of such features as “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Toy Story,” and “Frank and Ollie,” in addition to a variety of live-action titles.

In 1996, Fumi joined the fledgling DreamWorks SKG, helped to start her own department, and went on to serve as Head of Animation Publicity for the next 11 years. She worked on campaigns for the first three “Shrek” films, “Chicken Run,” and “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” among others.

In 2007, Fumi left DreamWorks to open her own boutique firm, the pr kitchen. As a seasoned consultant, she contributed to the publicity and awards campaigns for dozens of feature and short films for studios including DreamWorks, Aardman, Laika, Netflix, Disney, Apple TV+, Google Spotlight Stories, Baobab, Tonko House, and many other independent filmmakers.

Fumi served as the PR Chair for WIA (Women in Animation) for over ten years, and was also a member of the Public Relations branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

Fumi is survived by her husband, Simon Otto, a veteran director (“That Christmas”), head of character animation (the “How to Train Your Dragon” films), and animator; and their son, Max. Other survivors include her mother Teruko Kitahara; sister, Hiroko Kitahara Domes; brother Keiichi Kitahara, and their family around the world.

In loving memory of Fumi, donations may be made to the Fumi Kitahara WIA Membership & Scholarship Fund and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.