Buddy Baker, a 29-year Disney veteran who composed the musical scores for nearly 200 Disney feature films, television shows and theme park attractions, passed away from natural causes on Friday, July 26, 2002, at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 84 years old. Baker first came to the Disney Studio in 1954 and went on to compose music for such popular television shows as DAVY CROCKETT and THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. His theatrical credits include the featurette DONALD IN MATHMAGIC LAND, plus memorable scores for the three original WINNIE THE POOH offerings.

Fox Kids Europe (FKE) has announced that chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz will leave FKE at the end of his employment agreement on November 23, 2002. In the remaining period, Kreiz will continue supporting the integration of certain FKE operations into majority shareholder The Walt Disney Company. Kreiz has successfully managed FKE since its inception in 1997. He led the expansion of FKE across Europe and the Middle East and during his tenure FKE initiated a successful IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.

Pow Wow Productions recently added five new animation directors to its roster: illustrator Sheila Aldridge; Tim Biskup, art director/designer for Cartoon Network's TIME SQUAD, and creator of his own short FREDDY SEYMORE'S AMAZING LIFE for Nickelodeon; David Brewster, supervising animator for feature films including OSMOSIS JONES, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT; John Corbitt, illustrator and cartoonist whose work has appeared in TIME Magazine and the Chicago Tribune; and Miles Thompson an illustrator and painter who has worked on the animated series DEXTER'S LABORATORY and JOHNNY

Design studio B1 Media has added producer Dudley Johnson to its recently launched production division. Johnson, a former assistant producer, technical writer and product specialist at Disney Interactive, will be writing and producing for B1. While at Disney Interactive he helped produce the CD-Roms CINDERELLA’S DOLLHOUSE, YOU CAN FLY! WITH TINKER BELL and PRINCESS MAGICAL DRESS UP. Johnson previously wrote for the NBC sitcom DIFFERENT STROKES, and was a co-producer, executive story editor and writer for the ABC series WEBSTER.

Ken Olshansky has joined Scholastic Entertainment as the senior vice president of television programming. Formerly, Olshansky was senior vice president of creative affairs for TV-Loonland/Sunbow Entertainment, where he developed and produced GENERATION O for Kids WB!, THE CRAMP TWINS for Cartoon Network and DONNER for ABC Family. In his new position, Olshansky will oversee the development and production of various Scholastic Entertainment television projects, including international co-productions and the Soup2Nuts production group in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Portland,
Oregon-based Happy Hour Entertainment has signed animation and comedy
director Mike Wellins for commercial representation. Wellins,
formerly a commercial and entertainment director at Vinton Studios,
brings many years of award-winning filmmaking experience to Happy
Hour Entertainment. While at Vinton Studios, Mike directed the Annie
Award-winning spot "Genie" for Mirinda Soda, and his commercial for
the Sony Playstation game LEGEND OF DRAGOON was voted Best Animated

Gene Moss, co-writer
of the classic '60s cartoon ROGER RAMJET, has died at age 75. REUTERS
reports that Moss died of cancer on July 15, 2002 at the Eisenhower
Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. After a career in
journalism and as an advertising copywriter, Moss and his partner Jim
Thurman teamed to co-write all 156 episodes of ROGER RAMJET, the
short-lived 1965 series that featured Gary Owens as the voice of the
titular hero who, with the American Eagle Squadron, battled Noodles

LEGO Media International
has tapped Vanessa Chapman to take over as head of its television and
film arm following the promotion of Conny Kalcher to a newly created
senior position within the LEGO Company's core business. Chapman
takes up the role of global controller of programming and strategy in
August 2002, when Kalcher becomes vice president, global brand
marketing for Stories, one of the LEGO Company's new brand portals.
The Stories division encompasses LEGO-themed product lines aimed at

After five years as executive vice president and general
manager, Tim Sarnoff has been promoted to president of Sony Pictures
Imageworks. The promotion recognizes Sarnoff's tenure as executive
VP, during which time he is credited with transforming Imageworks
into a leading visual effects and digital character animation
company. Ken Ralston, who has served as Imageworks creative leader
since his arrival at the company in 1995, extends his relationship
with Imageworks as senior visual effects supervisor. Ralston is

Bill Matthews, Disney Feature Animation's longtime training and recruitment head, has joined Glendale, California-based Cornerstone Animation’s Board of Advisors. In his new role, Matthews will advise Cornerstone executives and creative staff on strategies for recruitment, training, production management and creative direction of the studio. Matthews makes available to Cornerstone his wealth of experience as one of the founding instructors of the Sheridan College Animation Program and as a ten-year manager of artist development for Walt Disney Feature Animation.

Hallmark Entertainment has named Michael R. Oesterlin as director, International Sales where he will oversee Hallmark Entertainment programming sales throughout French-speaking territories, Turkey and Russia, and video worldwide. Before joining the company, Oesterlin was a sales executive for Warner Bros. International Television. While there, he was responsible for selling Warner Bros. programming to Free TV broadcasters throughout Africa, Israel, the Middle East and Turkey.

Director Keith Ingham has joined Bardel Entertainment to helm SILVERWING, a new animated television series based on Kenneth Oppel's best selling children's novel of the same name. Ingham came to Bardel from Walt Disney Animation Canada, where he worked for 3 years as an associate director on direct-to-video projects including THE LITTLE MERMAID: RETURN TO THE SEA and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS. Ingham also produced and directed the television special WINNIE THE POOH, A VALENTINE FOR YOU.

Cinesite Hollywood has recently added four new employees, senior compositor Rory Hinnen, senior engineer Suri Denduluri, colorist Marc Wielage and trainer Andrea Paolino, to the staff of its Hollywood office. "The addition of these talented people to our staff continues our efforts of building Cinesite's strength and services to the industry," said Cinesite Hollywood president and COO Ruth Scovill. Senior compositor Rory Hinnen studied digital art, mathematics and computer science at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. has made some organizational changes and executive promotions in its North American operation. Kaz Hirai, the company's president and chief operating officer, said the new executive appointments are designed to accelerate a wide range of business objectives including the evolution of PlayStation2 as a broadband-based entertainment delivery medium. Andrew House and Jack Tretton have been promoted to executive vice presidents of Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Design studio B1 Media, which currently includes DVD and gaming divisions and a broadcast design arm, has formed B1 Productions to produce featurettes and documentaries for DVDs and content for television. As part of this new division, producers Brent Zacky and Erin Zelle have been brought on board. In addition to producing duties, Zacky and Zelle will be involved in B1's move into the production arena by developing properties for cable and network television clients. Zacky was most recently a supervising producer, writer and director with Van Ness Films.

Ward Kimball, one of Disney's legendary Nine Old Men, passed away on July 8, 2002 from natural causes at Arcadia Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California. He was 88 years old. Ward Kimball's work at Disney began in 1934, when he joined the animation staff at the age of twenty.

Animated action series
SOSOPHIE, currently in development at entertainment company
channelzero, has brought on Emmy-winning writer Peter Gaffney.
"Peter's body of work and list of credits speak for themselves," said
channelzero founder and creative producer Dave Warren. "I think he's
the finest writer in animation and I'm thrilled to be working with
him to bring SOSOPHIE to television." Described by its creators as
THE SIMPSONS meets THE DUKES OF HAZARD, SOSOPHIE debuted at NATPE in

TV-Loonland AG has announced that chief financial officer Dr. Carl Woebcken has left the company by mutual agreement as of June 30, 2002. TV-Loonland CEO, president and company founder Peter Völkle will assume the role of CFO until a suitable replacement can be found. Dr. Woebcken has agreed to assist in an advisory capacity for an interim period following his departure. In announcing the departure, Völkle thanked Dr.

LEGO
Media, the entertainment division of LEGO, has promoted Janice Ross
to head of U.S. children's programming. In her new position, Ross
will oversee a variety of development, production and marketing
activities for LEGO Media and its growing slate of children's
programming, which includes the CGI-animated, direct-to-video feature
BIONICLE: THE MASK OF LIGHT, based on the company's successful
Bionicle characters and storyline. Previously, Ross was senior
licensing manager for the company. She will continue to be based in

New York-based visual
effects and computer animation company Black Logic, a division of the
Tape House Companies, has restructured its staff with new leadership
and numerous new hires. Ivan Molomut has been named executive
producer, after serving as head of sales for Black Logic for the past
three years. Molomut is responsible for key new hires including CGI
director Doug Johnson, who comes to Black Logic after many years in
the New York City computer graphics community. After a stint at the