Michael L. Fitzgerald, Universal Studios vice president of new technology and a 30-year veteran of the film and video industry, died of heart failure at his Encinohome Dec. 18. He was 53.
Fitzgerald spent the last 20 years of his career with Universal, having joined its nontheatrical sales division in 1982 before becoming vice president of technical operations for MCA/Universal Home Video in 1987.
In the early 1980s, he was a leading proponent for the ongoing improvement of VHS and Beta Hi-Fi technology and was among the first studio executives to recognize and support the potential of laserdisc. He established strict manufacturing guidelines for MCA/Universal's videocassette duplicators that were well above industry standards at the time.
He had personal involvement with the film-to-tape transfers of Universal titles, including Steven Spielberg's "Jaws," "E.T." and "Jurassic Park," and William Friedkin's "Sorcerer."
Working with the Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film Archives, he spearheaded an ongoing restoration of U's film library that led to top-quality video and laserdisc releases of classic film product
In 1986, he conceptualized for MCA/U the now-routine practice of providing a running commentary for a film on a separate audio channel of a videodisc. The company¹s inaugural project was Anthony Mann's 1950 Western "Winchester '73," which featured the reminiscences of actor James Stewart, whom Fitzgerald personally approached for the project.
Throughout the 1990s, and most recently as a member of Universal's New Technology Group, Fitzgerald played a pivotal role in establishing standards for new products, including DVD.
Fitzgerald also was key in the establishment of D-VHS in 2002 as a high-definition movie delivery format. He personally supervised the mastering and presentation of "Jurassic Park III," Universal's first project for digital cinema.
Franklin Park, Ill., native attended Elmhurst College, where he ran the school's radio station. He began his film career in 1971 at Chicago-based Films Inc., at the time the world's largest nontheatrical distributor of films. Paramount Pictures brought him to Los Angeles in 1978 to oversee storage and shipment of product for its new nontheatrical division. He also worked as director of nontheatrical Sales for Gold Key Entertainment just before joining Universal.
An amateur magician, had was a member of Hollywood's Magic Castle since 1978 where he helped spearhead the centralization and indexing of that institution's video and film archive.
As a member of the Krewe of Motha Roux, he attended every Mardi Gras in New Orleans for 25 years.
He is survived by wife Heidi, his mother and his sister.
A celebration of his life and career is pending.
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