Cinar Co-founder Dead

The Canadian press is reporting that Cinar Corp. co-founder Micheline Charest died on Wednesday while undergoing plastic surgery in a hospital in Montreal. She was 51.

Charest and husband Ronald Weinberg founded long-troubled children’s entertainment company Cinar in 1976. She served as chairman and chief exec officer until 2002, when she and Weinberg stepped down from their executive posts amid charges of misdoings. The two were later fined $2 million by the Quebec Securities Commission.

Cinar, maker of such popular animated children’s shows as Arthur, Caillou and Mona the Vampire, was recently bought by an investor group led by former Nelvana execs Toper Taylor and Michael Hirsh. Following last month’s closure of the $143.9 million takeover, Cinar was rebranded as Cookie Jar.