Stan Winston, the innovative special effects and make-up artist who received four Oscars during his career for his pioneering contributions to films such as “The Terminator” and “Jurassic Park,” passed away Sunday at age 62, surrounded by his family.

Stan Winston had been battling multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer, for seven years, a representative of the Stan Winston Studio said. He died in his home in California, surrounded by family.

Winston was responsible for creating the creatures in “Aliens,” the prehistoric reptiles of “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and the robots in “The Terminator.”

During his four-decade career, Winston worked with the likes of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton, earning critical acclaim as he steadfastly became a pioneer of technical inventions.

Winston was born on April 7, 1946, in Arlington, Virginia. He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he studied painting and sculpture. He moved to Hollywood in his early 20s, with hopes of finding an acting job and wound up taking up and completing a makeup apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios.

It all moved forward from here, with Winston establishing Stan Winston Studio in 1972. He soon won an Emmy Award for his effects work on “Gargoyles” and received more nominations over the following years.

Among his early creations were the Wookiee costumes for the 1978 “Star Wars Holiday Special.” It was in the 1980s that Winston truly established himself as an innovative special effects expert, receiving his first Academy Award nomination for “Heartbeeps.”

Two years later, James Cameron’s “The Terminator” was released and Winston’s work on the project was widely appreciated. His next collaboration with Cameron, 1986’s “Aliens,” garnered him his first Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

The two collaborated on further projects and Winston won two more Oscars for Best Makeup Effects and Best Visual Effects for 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

In between wins, Winston was nominated for Best Makeup in 1991 for his work on the whimsical Tim Burton fantasy film “Edward Scissorhands” and once more for “Batman Returns” in 1993.

It was Winston who created the unique look of the pale, wild-haired, scissors-handed Edward, one of Burton’s most acclaimed films. For “Batman Returns,” Winston created Danny DeVito’s costume and make up as The Penguin, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman character.

Winston won another Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 1995, for his work on the outstanding prehistoric reptiles of Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park.” In 1998, he received another nomination for his work on the sequel “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.”

The last Academy Award nomination came in 2002, for “Artificial Intelligence: A. I.”

Winston and his studio recently worked on Jon Favreau’s box office hit “Iron Man,” starring Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as the much-anticipated “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” starring Harrison Ford.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, of “Terminator” fame, said in a statement Monday that the entertainment industry “has lost a genius” and that he has lost one of his “best friends.”

“Stan’s work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever.”