Rich Carroll, a former Chicago commercial director was killed Feb. 22 in a motorcycle accident in Austin, Texas where he had lived for the past 15 years. No details about the cause of the accident have been released.
Mr. Carroll and his longtime partner, editor Cathy Boudin, formerly of Optimus, owned the editorial house Rip, Tear, Shread in Austin.
Mr. Carroll moved to Texas as a commercial director for Texas Story, a branch of Mark Androw’s Chicago Story production company (now Story).
Androw and Carroll were old friends, as were Mr. Carroll and Story’s executive producer, Cliff Grant, having worked together at various companies in the past.
“To me, Rich was the ultimate director,” Grant said. “He came from an editing background, so he was also great with special effects, and wonderful with kids, too. He was an all-around great guy, wonderful to work with and a lot of fun.”
Grant and Mr. Carroll had been partners in Steel Canyon Productions and earlier had teamed up at Grant’s Industry Pictures. Before that, he had been an editor with Freese & Friends, where Androw had been a producer and left that company to become the first director for New York-based Story, Piccolo, Guliner, one of the top spot houses at the time.
