Intriguing that today, of all days, I should update a posting on a special effects genius, the late John Chambers.

Now word comes in another great in the field, Stan Winston (above), 62, passed away, late Sunday, June 15, 2008, in Los Angeles, California. He died following a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma.

“Stan died peacefully at home surrounded by family,” a spokeswoman said.

His work is familiar to you. Winston created the title characters in Iron Man, The Terminator, Pumpkinhead, Predator, Aliens, as well as the monsters in Monster Squad, and the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. He worked on other well-known movies, such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Bat People, Batman Returns, Congo, and Gargoyles. Stan Winston was responsible for the creature features of Lake Placid, one of my favorites because of its crocodile angle in Maine. I’m sure there must have been a Sasquatch or Yeti in the creative mix, too.

Winston won four visual effects Oscars and earned multiple nominations. His first Oscar was for James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Winston later won two Oscars for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992) and 1993′s Jurassic Park.

Winston idolized those who came before him in the field, like Ray Harryhausen, and sought to make his own iconography, inspiring yet more to follow in his lead.

“Stan contributed to some of the greatest — fantastic movie characters in motion picture history,” Phil Tippett, who shared a visual effects Oscar with Winston on Jurassic Park, told The Los Angeles Times. “His loss is a great one and he will be missed.”

Stan Winston was born on April 7, 1946, in Richmond, Virginia, and is only the second special effects artist to be honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Stan’s son, Matt, is an actor, possibly best known for his role as Temporal Agent Daniels on “Star Trek: Enterprise.”