James Carter Cathcart, a long-time voice actor for the Pokémon anime series, has announced his retirement from script adapting and voice dubbing for Pokémon USA due to throat cancer.
Cathcart is known for voicing Professor Oak and his grandson Gary, as well as Team Rocket’s James and Meowth, since the first episode of Pokémon the Series. His other credits include providing the voice of Vector the Crocodile in 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog.
In a blog post earlier this week, Cathcart’s wife Martha made the announcement after revealing Cathcart’s tumours weren’t responding to initial chemotherapy “as much as was anticipated”.
Cathcart was diagnosed with throat cancer in January this year, which started from his tongue and spread to some of his lymph nodes in his neck. He is set to begin a new treatment plan at the beginning of May, which will consist of simultaneous radiation therapy and chemotherapy.