A memorial will be held later this month for San Francisco Bay Area television and film editor and independent filmmaker Ingrid Wilhite, who died suddenly January 15 in Berkeley of complications from brain cancer. She was 48.
Friends said that Ms. Wilhite's life partner, Saundra "Sauni" Symonds, and her best friend of 25 years, Nicole Grimmer, with her partner, Denise Dupree, cherished and cared for Ms. Wilhite in her final days. Ms. Wilhite leaves behind a large and creative chosen family of friends, colleagues, and clients in the Bay Area, as well as a beloved extended family and many friends in the Boise, Idaho area where she was born.
Ms. Wilhite attended public schools in Kuna, Idaho and graduated from Rutgers University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in communications. She moved to San Francisco and paid her professional dues working for such firms as Ketchum Advertising and Good Pictures, while pursuing her own independent short film projects. Ms. Wilhite became a very successful and sought after film and video editor. She was admired for her creativity ("make your pixels polka"), professionalism, and dedication to her clients such as PRN, Kenwood, Jump Ship, Video Arts, Lieberman, and others. She won several industry awards for editing including the coveted Joey .
Ms. Wilhite was an accomplished filmmaker, described in the media accounts as "funny and irreverent." She wrote, produced, and directed short films, which screened and won awards at film festivals throughout the United States and internationally, including San Francisco's own Frameline International LGBT Film Festival. Her inspiring film credits include: Fun with a Sausage , L'Ingenue, It's a Lezzie Life – A Dyke-u-mentary, The Lesbian Empress Card, Pet Names, Mister Sisters, A Religious Experience , and Hooter Polka . Ms. Wilhite's zest for the campy and eye for the political made her work as joyful and cutting edge as she was, friends said.
Beyond her love of film Ms. Wilhite was passionate about music and an avid accordionist who performed publicly as part of the musical duo Cabaret Tormento at venues such as Theater Rhinoceros. She enjoyed books, travel, skiing, biking, hiking, and spending time with her cat family: Ignatius Robert "Iggy-Bob," Minnie Pearl, Diva, and Mojo . Ms. Wilhite's intense feline connections lead her to make generous donations of time and money to the Marin and San Francisco SPCAs and the Feral Cat Foundation of Santa Rosa. She and Symonds produced Whisker Tips, an SPCA educational video given to all new shelter cat adopters.
There will be a memorial celebration of Ms. Wilhite's life Saturday, February 23 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, in San Francisco.