IN MEMORY OF DAN PARISE
by John Hanti
Our friend and client, Dan Parise, died in Los Angeles on August 24. He was 61 years old. As America's premier event producer, the news has come as a shocking blow to us and to the entire industry we serve.
Dan’s company, Diversified Production Services, is headquartered at the SST Willow Building in Weehawken, NJ.
The Dan Parise I knew was a man of far more depth and dimension than the genius Captain of Industry known to most of the production world. He was a kind and entirely unpretentious man of the people, as comfortable with his crew as he was with his Commander-in-Chief.
Dan's early friendship with Barrack and Michelle Obama prompted then-candidate Obama to have Dan produce his historical 2008 fund-raising concert at Madison Square Garden. Early this year, Dan produced Michelle Obama's signing tour in support of her best-selling book, "Becoming."
An SST employee who worked with Dan once told me of overhearing a phone conversation between Dan and the President, after which Dan casually strolled down to the floor of that night’s venue to hang out with the crew, He did so not as their boss, but as their colleague. He never insulated himself in an executive suite. He got his hands dirty. He was one of us. He was Everyman.
Dan's monumental achievements are legendary. I need not recount them here. It is Dan, the man, whom I wish to remember and celebrate today.
SST would not be the company we are today without Dan's help, guidance, and support. We all liked him and respected him. Dan was our friend and we will miss him terribly. Our hearts go out to his entire family.
I think Roc Nation summed up the significance of Dan’s life quite well in its statement issued the day after his death: “His mark on the entertainment and broadcast world will be felt for generations to come.”
