Washington DC, Feb. 26 -- Fumi Kitahara, a widely respected animation publicist who helped steer award-winning campaigns for studios including DreamWorks, Aardman, Laika, Netflix, and Disney, passed away on Monday due to complications from a rare form of blood cancer, reported Deadline.

The publicist breathed her last at the age of 56.

While sharing the unfortunate news, Fumi Kitahara family members wrote, "Dear Friends of Fumi. We're devastated to share that our dear Fumi passed away this afternoon, February 24, after her long struggle with a rare blood cancer. She was surrounded by the love of her family and close friends." as quoted by Deadline.

Signed by "Simon, Max & the Kitahara Family," the joint statement continued, "We know ma...