Margaret Hale, one of the founding members of ASIFA-SF who ran ink-and-paint departments for more than 20 years, died of a heart attack at the age of 76 on February 16, 2003 at her home in Jacksonville, Oregon. Born and educated in England, she met her husband Jeff Hale when they were students at the Royal Academy of Art. They soon moved to Canada to work in animation and then moved to the U.S. in 1964 to work for Imagination, Inc. in San Francisco, California, which they ultimately owned. The company was known for its commercials and work for SEASAME STREET. In the early 1970s Prescott Wright arranged for a group of his friends, Jeff and Margaret Hale, Les Goldman and David Hilberman, to form an ASIFA chapter in San Francisco, which she remained active in for many years. When Imagination closed in the late 1970s, her next big job was running the graphic's department for John Korty while he was making Twice Upon A Time. In 1980 Jerry Smith hired her to staff up a large I&P department at Mill Valley Animation, which produced a high volume of TV shows, mainly for Hanna-Barbera. Mill Valley Animation closed in 1983. She returned to her native England for a couple of years, then returned to San Francisco where she ran traditional I&P services until the business was replaced by computers. She is survived by her husband Jeff ,her son Nick and Margo, her daugther.
