Joanne D. Hale, founding president and life trustee of the Autry Museum dies
Burbank resident Joanne D. Hale, founding president and life trustee of the Autry Museum of the American West, died last Tuesday. She was 87 years old.
“Joanne was more than a friend. I considered her my cherished sister,” said Jackie Autry, founding chair of the Autry’s board of trustees, in a statement. “She was also the heart and soul of the Autry. As much as I feel a tremendous sense of loss, I take comfort in the fact that her vision and passion for the American West will forever illuminate the museum she co-founded.”
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Together with Jackie and Gene Autry, Hale and her husband, Monte, who died in 2009, were instrumental in the creation, planning, construction and continued growth of the Autry Museum.
“We have lost a dear friend and visionary,” said W. Richard West Jr., the Autry’s current president and chief executive, in the statement. “Throughout the Autry and beyond, Joanne was known for leading the museum with immense dedication, energy and focus. But a second element of Joanne’s great success here at the Autry was personal rather than professional — it was her deep and abiding love for this museum and its subject, the American West. We will continue to honor Joanne’s legacy each and every day.”
Prior to her work at the Autry, Joanne Hale served as director of administration services for the United Sporting Goods division of Edison Bros., and co-founder and chair of Sabre Products Inc., a computer company later purchased by Bell and Howell.
She served on the executive committees of the Music Center, the Employers Group and the June Ebensteiner Hospice Foundation.
She also served as a member of the board of directors of United Way; the trusteeship of Arts Inc.; the board of governors of Town Hall Los Angeles; the dean’s advisory board of the UCLA School of Public Health and the board of the Downtown Women’s Center.
An alumna of UCLA, Hale received numerous honors for her contributions to the community, including commendations from the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
Hale is survived by her daughters Susannah Urlik, Brandy Burnett and Andrea Haverback; son, Harlan Haverback, and daughter-in-law, Ming Zhao; and grandchildren, Kyle Haverback and Christopher Burnett.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Joanne Hale’s name to the Autry Museum or the American Humane Assn.
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Mark Kellam, mark.kellam@latimes.com
Twitter: @LAMarkKellam
