Monty Oum (June 22, 1981 - February 1, 2015) was the original creator of RWBY; he first pitched the idea to Rooster Teeth while working on production of Red vs. Blue, and the show premiered in July 2013 under his creative direction. He was an American web-based animator and writer with a specialty in fighting animation. He was a self-taught animator, and first worked on crossover fighting video series before being hired by Rooster Teeth to animate for Red vs. Blue and then going on to create RWBY as his first original animated series.
On January 22, 2015, Oum suffered a severe allergic reaction during a medical procedure and fell into a coma. He died on February 1, 2015. Rooster Teeth continues RWBY on the basis of the vision he created. He oversaw the first two seasons of RWBY and began production of the third, but so far the third and fourth (currently underway) seasons have aired since his death.