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Joy Rosen, the co-founding partner and CEO of Toronto-based production, distribution and animation company Portfolio Entertainment, died June 8 following a year-long illness. She was 65.

Her death was announced by Portfolio’s co-ceo Lisa Olfman.

“Joy was my partner, my best friend, my sister-in-arms,” said Olfman in a statement. “Words can’t describe what a huge loss this is to her family, her friends, and to those in the business community who knew her.”

Rosen and Olfman co-founded Portfolio in 1991, launching the company from a spare bedroom “with a borrowed typewriter, a boatload of dreams and unwavering determination,” the company said in a statement. “Joy and Lisa transformed Portfolio Entertainment into a leading production, distribution and animation company of kids and family entertainment with an iconic roster that includes the PBS Kids Emmy Award-winning series The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!, Hero Elementary, Doki and Groundling Marsh.

Toronto -- After the "Cat in the Hat," Portfolio Entertainment has pulled out a rabbit with a flourish by hiring veteran Louis Fournier to take the Canadian indie distributor to the next level.

He has the credentials. Fournier was head of distribution at Cinar Corp., the creator of animated hits like "Arthur," "Caillou" and "Mona the Vampire," before the Canadian animation house, felled by a financial scandal, was sold in 2004 to a consortium led by former Nelvana co-founder Michael Hirsh and renamed the Cookie Jar Entertainment.

After moving from Montreal indie producers Galafilm to Tribal Nova, Fournier now lands in Toronto to fill the newly created post of vp sales and acquisitions at Portfolio Entertainment.

Portfolio, founded and run since 1991 by Joy Rosen and Lisa Olfman, has been a mainstay at the two MIPs and other TV markets but has never stood out with a calling-card series.

That changed when...

Adapting to tough times, Canadian producers are going to the ends of the earth to secure new markets and alliances to sell their wares. "We're seeing more possibilities in Asia and Eastern Europe -- not because those markets are thriving but because broadcasters there are buying," said Joy Rosen, co-president of Toronto-based Portfolio Entertainment. In better days, Canadian producers -- the largest group of program sellers internationally after Hollywood -- carved out substantial market share in Europe by targeting co-production partners and domestic broadcasters with the promises of quality, studio-style programming. On the co-production front, the Canadian government has been very active in establishing treaties in dozens of European countries.