Death and Dedications
On Friday August 22, 2008, LaFontaine was at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California with a pulmonary embolism and was reported to be in critical condition the following Tuesday. His family made a public appeal for prayers on the Mediabistro.com site. Ten days later, LaFontaine died on September 1, 2008, six days after his 68th birthday, following complications from a pneumothorax. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His final television voice over role was for the Phineas and Ferb episode "The Chronicles of Meap" in which he said in his final line "In a world... There. I said it. Happy?". The episode also ended with a short tribute to him. His final movie trailer voice-over was for Call + Response, a documentary about global slave trade, for which he donated his talent.
On September 6, 2008, America's Most Wanted showed a visual with a picture of him with words below that said "In Memoriam: Don LaFontaine August 26, 1940 - September 1, 2008." John Walsh had announced, prior to the dedication sign, that LaFontaine—who had been the show's announcer since 1988—had died at the age of 68. On the evening of September 7, 2008, Adult Swim had a bumper that said: Don LaFontaine .
At the end of the credit sequence in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Chronicles of Meap" there is a message on screen saying "In Memoriam... Don LaFontaine 08/26/40 - 09/01/08. One man, in a land, in a time, in a world... All his own." The credit sequence had been designed as a trailer for the "next" Meap episode, or as LaFontaine put it, "Episode 40 -- Meapless in Seattle". As the Disney Channel Original vanity card appears, you hear him say, "In a world...there, I said it. Happy?"
"The Apprentice Scout", an episode of Chowder, is dedicated to LaFontaine. The episode dedicated his memory and said "To Don LaFontaine 1940-2008" Fellow voice-over artist and friend John Leader retired from the voice-over business on Sept 1, 2008 upon learning of LaFontaine's death.
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