Cartoon studio founder Lou Scheimer dies at 84

LOS ANGELES Lou Scheimer, who founded the Filmation animation studio that produced Saturday morning cartoons including "Fat Albert" and "The Archie Show," has died. He was 84.

Scheimer's wife Mary Ann said Sunday that the man behind the cartoon powerhouse died on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Scheimer's company was the largest animation operation in the country in the early 1980s by number of employees.

Scheimer founded the company in 1962 with a $5,000 loan from his mother-in-law. He won a Daytime Emmy Award as a producer of the 1974-75 season of the "Star Trek" animated series.

In 1969, the company was sold to a cable operator that was bought by Westinghouse. Scheimer continued to head Filmation but retired several years ago.

Filmation was bought by French investors in 1989.