Morton Schindel

Morton Schindel (April 23, 1918 – August 20, 2016) was an American educator, producer, and founder of Weston Woods Studios, which specializes in adapting children's books into animated films. He named the company after the wooded area outside his home in Weston, Connecticut.

Born and raised in Orange, New Jersey, Schindel went to the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor's degree in 1939 from the Wharton School of Finance. In 1941 he married Ellen Bamberger (of the family famed for the Bamberger's department store chain); the couple had two daughters and one son. In 1948 he worked with Teaching Films Inc. After it declared bankruptcy, he opened his own company, Key Productions, but found film distributors uninterested in his ideas to create animated films of children's picture books.

Recognition Known for remaining faithful to the books he adapted, Schindel was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film Doctor DeSoto (1984), which he produced with Michael Sporn.

In the tale a mouse-dentist agrees to treat a fox, yet he fears he could be eaten by the fox. Schindel recalled, “This was probably one of our best films. The book it was based on had great illustrations and won a Newbery medal for its writing, so it made for a great film.”

In 1996, Scholastic, Inc. acquired Weston Woods, and Schindel founded the nonprofit Weston Woods Institute to work on such educational endeavors as the Children's Literacy Project.

Schindel's wife, Cari Best, is a prolific children's book author (Sally Jean, the Bicycle Queen) with Farrar, Straus and Giroux.