Bruce Margolis, Fox Studio Executive and TV Producer, Dies at 64

He was most recently a co-executive producer on “Empire” companion series “Star”

Bruce Margolis
Fox

Fox studio executive and TV producer Bruce Margolis (“Star”) died last month following a battle with cancer. He was 64.

Margolis passed away on Feb. 16 at Citrus Valley Hospice in West Covina, California.

Over the course of his impressive career, Margolis oversaw “Bones,” “24” and “Prison Break” for Fox among other series. Next month, Fox will hold a memorial service on the 20th Century lot to honor Bruce.

Here is the obituary notice sent out today by 20th Century Fox:

It is with sadness that we report that the industry’s beloved 20th Century Fox Television production executive and television producer Bruce Margolis has passed away after a valiant battle with cancer.

Margolis most recently served as a co-executive producer on the Fox network drama “Star,” a position he held from the show’s inception, after serving as a production executive on the series’ pilot. Prior, Margolis served as senior vice president of Production for the studio for nearly eighteen years, a position in which he oversaw all elements of many series’ physical production, from hiring the department heads and crew members, to supervising the principal photography and post production, working closely with showrunners, producers and cast members from script to final delivery of every episode.

Bruce had a big, boisterous personality and a love of the business and the people in it, and he enjoyed nothing more than the challenge of figuring out how to do the impossible, and then doing it, on time and on budget. Some of the landmark series he oversaw included the long running “Bones,” the blockbusters “24” and “Prison Break,” and many, many others, from the time travel adventure series “Terra Nova” which required construction of an entire town in the jungles of Queensland, Australia to the political drama “Tyrant,” which shot on location in Jerusalem until escalating violence in the Gaza strip led Margolis to personally oversee a move of the entire production to Istanbul in order to complete the season.

An avid photographer, Margolis was rarely without a camera or two, and documented much of life behind the scenes. He took portraits of cast and crew members, candids during breaks in shooting, landscape photography on location, and he even shot the images for all 12 months of  a 2oth Century Fox TV calendar in which executives’ dogs were posed in humorous tableaus representing shows from “Homeland” to “Modern Family.” Margolis began his career as an official photographer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and also worked as a location manager for a variety of television westerns including “The Young Riders” and “Gunsmoke.”

He is survived by his wife, Jodie, his children Matt, Megan and David, his son-in-law Aaron and the many hundreds of executives, producers, actors and crewmembers who will never forget him, and are heartbroken by his passing. A memorial service is planned on the historic 2oth Century Fox lot in April in celebration of his life. Donations in his honor can be made to his favorite dog rescue organization, Ace of Hearts, at www.aceofheartsdogs.com.

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