Tom Ruegger

Career

In the 1980s Ruegger worked for Hanna-Barbera, writing and producing various animated series, most notably Snorks, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Pound Puppies, and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. He also wrote one episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

In 1989 he began working alongside Jean MacCurdy and Steven Spielberg at Warner Bros. Animation to create and produce several animated series including Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Histeria, Batman: The Animated Series, The Plucky Duck Show, Freakazoid, Taz-Mania and Road Rovers.

In 2004, Ruegger started Tom Ruegger Production, a full-service animation studio. In 2006, Ruegger began developing, story-editing and serving as executive producer on the 40-episode animated series Animalia, based on the picture book by Graeme Base. Along with Nicholas Hollander, he developed and story-edited another animated series entitled Sushi Pack.

Ruegger has received fourteen Emmy Awards for his work in animation.

Family life

Ruegger was married to voice actress Adrienne Alexander, who worked with him on Scooby-Doo and Pound Puppies. He met her while they both attended Dartmouth College. In 2006, he married Annie Malley, and lives near Los Angeles, California. Annie is a successful marathon runner, and he has three sons: Nathan, Luke and Cody. Nathan Ruegger provided the voice for the baby version of Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures, Skippy Squirrel on Animaniacs and Froggo on Histeria, where Luke provided the voice for the Flame and Bumpo Basset on Animaniacs and Big Fat Baby on Histeria. Cody performed the voice of Little Blue Bird on Animaniacs and Loud Kiddington on Histeria. The Ruegger boys also are the primary inspiration behind the main characters in Animaniacs, Yakko, Wakko and Dot. Tom Ruegger himself also made occasional cameos on his shows in caricature form, most notably as the recurring character of director Cooper DeVille in Tiny Toon Adventures.