FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2012 file photo, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak is seen before the start of the Academy nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Sherak, a former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president, has died of prostate cancer at 68, the Academy confirmed on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. Sherak was surrounded family at his home in Calabasas, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
January 28, 2014 - 6:15 PM
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak has died after a 12-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 68.
A film marketing and distribution executive, Sherak died Tuesday surrounded by family at his home in Calabasas, Calif. "Tom is a true hero in our lives who has a star on the sidewalk and wings to fly," the Sherak family said in a statement released by the academy.
Sherak spent 17 years at 20th Century Fox, where he became the domestic film group chairman and worked on such blockbusters as "Die Hard" and "Independence Day."
Sherak, who last year was appointed Los Angeles' film czar, was responsible for completing the deal for the academy's new film museum with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014