Original Gatchaman screenwriter, Jinzo Toriumi, succumbs to liver cancer

I just received the following release--not sure of the source, but confirmed the information on the links:

Jinzo Toriumi, a screenwriter who first began writing during the "revolutionary era" of Japanese television animation on Mach Go Go Go (Speed Racer), Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets/G-Force), and Yatterman, has died on Thursday. He was 78. He succumbed to liver cancer in a hospital in the Tokyo neighborhood of
Shinjuku. He leaves behind his wife, Kazuyo.

Toriumi was born in 1929 in the northern Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido. After trying his hand at writing scripts for live-action films at Nikkatsu, he began writing animation scripts at Mushi Productions for Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) in 1964. He then devoted himself fulltime to television animation at Tatsunoko Production in 1965. There, he contributed to Casshern, Tekkaman, and Time Bokan. He later began writing for such Sunrise works as Armored Trooper Votoms, Yoroiden Samurai Trooper (Ronin Warriors), and Mister Ajikko. He also wrote the novel versions of Gatchaman, Shin Heiyuden, and Dororo, as well as the Anime Scenario Nyumon (The Introduction to Anime
Scriptwriting).

He used the Anime Scenario Nyumon book as a vocational school teacher for future generations of scriptwriters. He also chaired Ohtori Koubou, a support group for scriptwriters. He received the (Scenario) Scriptwriting Award from the Japan Writers Guild on May 26, 2000.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, animeanime.jp

Thanks for the information, Jane!