David Bale

David Bale, a businessman, environmentalist and animal rights activist, died on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., his wife, the feminist author Gloria Steinem, said. He was 62. Ms. Steinem said the cause was primary brain lymphoma, for which Mr. Bale had been hospitalized since July. He moved from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to the Santa Monica Healthcare Center in November, she said. Mr. Bale, who was twice divorced, married Ms. Steinem in September 2000 after meeting her at a fund-raiser for Voters for Choice, a political action committee Ms. Steinem helped found. His business interests included jeans and marketing skateboards in England, but his passion, family and friends said, was advancing social equality and animal rights. He sat on the boards of the Ark Trust, an animal rights group, which last year became the Hollywood office of the Humane Society of the United States, and of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. Mr. Bale was also a board member of World Education Inc., a creator of nonformal adult education programs in developing countries. Mr. Bale was born in South Africa on Sept. 2, 1941. He grew up in Egypt, England and the Channel Islands and became a pilot in the hope of establishing air rescue and food supply flights in Africa. Besides his wife, Mr. Bale is survived by his children from his second marriage, to Jenny James Bale of England: the actor Christian Bale and Louise Bale, both of Los Angeles, and Sharon Bale of England; his daughter from his first marriage, Erin Kreunen of South Africa; and four grandchildren.