Jim was an amazing human being. He was funny, creative, and imaginative, and he inspired the people who worked for him and with him to do their very best. I had the opportunity twice to work with Jim directly on movies. He helped us to develop the Yoda puppet for The Empire Strikes Back and strongly recommended the wonderfully talented Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of Yoda. Then, a few years later, we worked together on the movie Labyrinth, and I saw Jim’s laser-focus as director in getting his vision onto film. Being around him always enhanced my thinking process. He used his humor and his quirky imagination to get around--or come up with viable solutions to--the inevitable problems that accompany the making of any movie.