From the July 2007 Peg-Board

Animator, producer and union activist DAVE HILBERMAN died on July 5 at the age of ninety-six.

Hilberman began his animation career at Disney in 1936, where he worked on shorts such as "Farmyard Symphony," "The Ugly Duckling" and "Beach Picnic".

He and Moe Gollub were the first two Disney artists to sign union cards. He was one of the leaders of the 1941 Disney strike. In 1947, Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Hilberman was a Communist.

After the strike, Hilberman, Zach Schwartz and Steve Bosustow co-founded United Productions of America. In 1946, Hilberman and Schwartz sold their shares in UPA, which later became best known for Mr. Magoo.

Hilberman and Schwartz moved to New York to set up Tempo Productions along with Bill Pomerance. Tempo became one of the largest TV commercial studios in the U.S. but was shut down by the blacklist around 1952, at which point Hilberman moved to England.

Eventually Hilberman returned to the United States, where he settled in Palo Alto and helped start the animation program at San Francisco State College in the 1960s. He finished his animation career working at Hanna-Barbera on shows like The Smurfs and The Kwicky Koala Show, and the feature Once Upon a Forest.