A memorial service for Lois Fortune-Maginley, a producer for many years with the Children’s Television Workshop, will be held on Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.
Ms. Fortune-Maginley, who was known as Tippy, died on Jan. 2 at Stony Brook University Hospital. She was 77 and had emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
She spent the last 14 months of her life in East Hampton but had split her time between here and Redondo Beach, Calif., for decades.
Born in Harlem on March 16, 1946, to Thomas Fortune and the former Hilda Orr, she grew up in New York City. She earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1968 and a master’s degree in teaching from New York University the following year.
“The convergence of a college film appreciation course and the second season of ‘Sesame Street’ introduced Tippy Fortune to the world of educational and children’s television,” according to a University of Chicago profile of her. At 24, she was admitted into a writers training program conducted by the producers of “Sesame Street” and went on to become a production assistant at the Children’s Television Workshop, where she helped produce computer animation for “The Electric Company,” a series designed for children who had aged out of the “Sesame Street” audience.
While with the Children’s Television Workshop, she participated in film production training programs at WNET and with the Directors Guild of America.
As executive producer of international versions of “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” she worked with producers in France, Spain, Germany, the Philippines, and the Middle East. That led to consulting on behalf of Unesco with producers creating educational programs to be used throughout the Indian subcontinent.
She was associate producer of “Vegetable Soup,” a series made for New York State, and served as executive producer of “Pinwheel,” which was the first show to air on the Nickelodeon network.
She and George H. Maginley were married on Nov. 25, 1978. The following year, they moved to Los Angeles, where she became executive producer at Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment. She also wrote children’s literature.
Her husband died in 1998. Ms. Fortune-Maginley is survived by three stepsons, Matthew Maginley, Andrew Maginley, and Timothy Maginley, and by a brother, Roland Fortune of Philadelphia, his wife, Gena Alexandra Fortune, and their children and grandchildren.
Contributions in her memory have been suggested to the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, P.O. Box 1197, Bridgehampton 11932.
