Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 28, 2014 18:45:33 GMT -6
Former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak died today of complications due to a long battle with prostate cancer. The studio marketing, distribution and production executive whose Hollywood career spanned five decades was 68. President of the Academy from 2009-2012, Sherak was also a champion of the Southern California Multiple Sclerosis Society, helping to raise about $40 million for the organization’s research and programs over the past 20 years — his charity work meant more to him than any of his business endeavors. Sherak died at his home in Calabasas, CA surrounded by family and friends.
In September, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Sherak as the city’s first film czar, taking a $1 salary and tasked with putting together a plan to halt runaway production and increase the shooting of films and TV shows in Hollywood’s backyard. Along with his growing team at the city’s Entertainment Industry and Production office, he had brought aboard former MPAA president Bob Pisano as an unofficial “consigliere” and named former Time Warner exec Rajiv Dalal his deputy. Sherak and his team were working on that plan when his health took a turn for the worse, though he told our Pete Hammond after his job was announced that his public battle with cancer was not an issue. “I am going through all kinds of stuff with my body, and somebody once said don’t make a decision when your body’s going one way and your head’s going another way,” he said at the time. “I took another couple of days and said I wanted to meet with the mayor. … I told him when it was all done to let me go home and talk to (my wife). I did, and she said, ‘Take it.’ I next called my oncologist, and he said, ‘Tom, take it; you’re going to be fine.’ And that’s what happened.”
The Academy's Flight Of The Oscars Media EventSherak began his career at Paramount in 1970 in distribution and after a stint as head film buyer at General Cinema worked at 20th Century Fox in various capacities in the 1980s. That’s where he began to put his stamp on some of the biggest movies of that decade first as President of Domestic Distribution and Marketing, then Senior EVP of Twentieth Century Fox, and eventually Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Domestic Film Group. He oversaw such titles as Romancing The Stone, Commando, Aliens, The Fly, Broadcast News, Predator, Wall Street, three Die Hard movies, Working Girl, The War Of The Roses, Home Alone, Edward Scissorhands, the Star Wars trilogy special edition, Mrs. Doubtfire, True Lies, Speed, Independence Day and Star Wars: Episode 1–The Phantom Menace. Afterward he became a partner with Joe Roth in Revolution Studios, which released more than 30 movies during its seven-year run including Black Hawk Down, Rent, Click and Rocky Balboa. After serving at treasurer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Sherak was elected president in 2009 and served three one-year terms.
He also had been a consultant that worked all over Hollywood, including for Marvel Studios on its superhero pics like Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor; for Relativity Media; and Skydance Productions. Most recently he had an office on the Paramount lot and helped the studio work with the MPAA on ratings negotiations for Best Picture Oscar nominee The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Among Sherak’s charity work, he at one time served as chairman of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, on the Board of Directors for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and the Southern California Variety – the Children’s Charity. Earler this month, he was tapped to receive the Will Rogers foundation’s 2014 Pioneer of the Year Award, which is to be bestowed March 26 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
s1360.photobucket.com/user/comiccollectorsguide1/media/SherakOscars__140128233741-275x407_zps95beec31.jpg.html
In September, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Sherak as the city’s first film czar, taking a $1 salary and tasked with putting together a plan to halt runaway production and increase the shooting of films and TV shows in Hollywood’s backyard. Along with his growing team at the city’s Entertainment Industry and Production office, he had brought aboard former MPAA president Bob Pisano as an unofficial “consigliere” and named former Time Warner exec Rajiv Dalal his deputy. Sherak and his team were working on that plan when his health took a turn for the worse, though he told our Pete Hammond after his job was announced that his public battle with cancer was not an issue. “I am going through all kinds of stuff with my body, and somebody once said don’t make a decision when your body’s going one way and your head’s going another way,” he said at the time. “I took another couple of days and said I wanted to meet with the mayor. … I told him when it was all done to let me go home and talk to (my wife). I did, and she said, ‘Take it.’ I next called my oncologist, and he said, ‘Tom, take it; you’re going to be fine.’ And that’s what happened.”
The Academy's Flight Of The Oscars Media EventSherak began his career at Paramount in 1970 in distribution and after a stint as head film buyer at General Cinema worked at 20th Century Fox in various capacities in the 1980s. That’s where he began to put his stamp on some of the biggest movies of that decade first as President of Domestic Distribution and Marketing, then Senior EVP of Twentieth Century Fox, and eventually Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox Domestic Film Group. He oversaw such titles as Romancing The Stone, Commando, Aliens, The Fly, Broadcast News, Predator, Wall Street, three Die Hard movies, Working Girl, The War Of The Roses, Home Alone, Edward Scissorhands, the Star Wars trilogy special edition, Mrs. Doubtfire, True Lies, Speed, Independence Day and Star Wars: Episode 1–The Phantom Menace. Afterward he became a partner with Joe Roth in Revolution Studios, which released more than 30 movies during its seven-year run including Black Hawk Down, Rent, Click and Rocky Balboa. After serving at treasurer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Sherak was elected president in 2009 and served three one-year terms.
He also had been a consultant that worked all over Hollywood, including for Marvel Studios on its superhero pics like Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Thor; for Relativity Media; and Skydance Productions. Most recently he had an office on the Paramount lot and helped the studio work with the MPAA on ratings negotiations for Best Picture Oscar nominee The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Among Sherak’s charity work, he at one time served as chairman of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, on the Board of Directors for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, and the Southern California Variety – the Children’s Charity. Earler this month, he was tapped to receive the Will Rogers foundation’s 2014 Pioneer of the Year Award, which is to be bestowed March 26 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
s1360.photobucket.com/user/comiccollectorsguide1/media/SherakOscars__140128233741-275x407_zps95beec31.jpg.html