From Toon Zone and The Big Cartoon Database comes word that Robert “Tiger” West died on February 13th, at the age of 81 years old. West’s major contribution to animation was his development of Xerox equipment for the processing of animation. From 1950 to 1953, he was an employee of MGM, working as an assistant on the Tom and Jerry cartoons; from 1953 to 1958, he was vice-president and production manager at Grantray-Lawrence. During the period of 1968 to 1977, West was a supervisor for Hanna-Barbera’s Xerox department. He also helped establish Hanna-Barbera Productions in Australia.

Ruby-Spears and Marvel also served as places of employment for West, until his retirement in 1989. He likewise animated for DiC and DePatie-Freleng. For his 50-year involvement in the animation industry, West was awarded the Golden Award in 2005, by The Animation Guild (IATSE Local #839).