In Memory

Stephen Frederick Kolzak - Class Of 1971

Stephen F. Kolzak, former senior vice president of casting and talent at Columbia Pictures Television, died on Wednesday at Sherman Oaks (Calif.) Community Hospital. He was 37 years old and lived in Los Angeles. His family said he had died of AIDS. Mr. Kolzak, who was born in Hartford and was a graduate of Harvard, was previously manager of West Coast casting for NBC and vice president of casting for Embassy Television.

In 1984, he received an Artios Award from the Casting Society of America for his original casting of ''Cheers.'' Among other shows he cast were ''Starsky and Hutch,'' ''Facts of Life,'' ''Silver Spoons,'' ''One Day at a Time,'' ''The Jeffersons'' and ''Who's the Boss?'' His companion was Paul Monette.

He is survived by his mother, Dolores Show of Falls Church, Va.; his father, Theodore, of West Hartford, Conn., and two sisters, Nancy Barnett, of Baltimore, and Susan Graczyk, of Oceanside, Calif.


Published: New York Times, September 22, 1990

The GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award was established in Steve's honor for which he was the first recipient (posthumous).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLAAD_Stephen_F._Kolzak_Award



 
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07/15/18 07:43 PM #1    

Karin Lindgren (1971)

This one makes me saddest of all.  Every day since I found out that Steve was taken from us far too soon, a stubborn tear has lodged in the corner of my right eye.  Though I wipe it away, another creeps out and stays in what was once a laugh line.  I knew Steve through Latin class.  He was something of a class clown, an entertainer in his own right.  I can still hear Miss Wilbur, our red-haired Latin teacher, calling him down:  "MIS-ter KOL-zak! ... MIS-ter KOL-zak!"  Steve seemed to have it all:  brains, wit, talent, a head for business, and athletic ability to boot!  I am not surprised that he had a successful career in the entertainment industry.  I followed and loved all of the shows he cast.  Thank you, Steve, for giving us the best TV there ever was.  I am happy that you were so successful, and happy that you loved and were loved in return.  I stand with you, friend, in the fight for LGBT rights and in the battle against AIDS.  


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