Jim Tauber Dies: Longtime Film Exec & Former Sidney Kimmel Entertainment President Was 74

Jim Tauber, a longtime film executive who was president of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment for a decade after working at Fox, Propaganda Films, Columbia TriStar and elsewhere, has died of multiple myeloma complications. He was 74. His family confirmed the news but did not provide a date of death.

Tauber served as president and COO of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment from 2005-15, overseeing some 30 films for the company. His SKE credits include Best Picture nominee Hell or High Water, The Place Beyond the Pines, Death at a Funeral, Lars and the Real Girl and The Kite Runner, Talk to Me, Breach, Age of Adaline and Synecdoche, New York.

“I was Art and Jim was Commerce, and I like to think we complimented each other,” his friend and collaborator Bill Horberg, Chairman Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, East, told Deadline. Horberg, who made 13 films with Tauber. “He had a wonderful, droll sense of humor — a godsend in an endeavor with so much absurdity baked in.”

Tauber retired from SKE in 2015.

“I have truly enjoyed working with Jim,” Sydney Kimmel said when Tauber retired. “He’s successfully overseen all of our productions for a decade and has been key to our success and growth.”

Tauber said upon his retirement: “Working with Sidney has been a highlight of my career. This change has been a dream of mine for a long time, and Sidney has been supportive beyond all hopes as I pursued this new chapter in my professional life.”

Prior to joining Kimmel, Tauber held high-level posts at several showbiz companies. He served as worldwide EVP Acquisitions & Co-Productions at 20th Century Fox, president and COO of Anonymous Content and later held the same post at Propaganda Films..

Earlier in his career, Tauber was EVP Acquisitions and Business/Legal Affairs at Columbia TriStar Pictures, overseeing acquisitions and sales agreements and the production of more than 50 features, including Cannes Palme d’Or winner sex, lies and videotape and Sundance hits The Waterdance and Gas Food Lodging.

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While at Propaganda, Tauber produced 30 films, including Being John Malkovich and Wild at Heart and helped launch distribution company Gramercy Pictures.

After retiring from the industry, Tauber, a licensed psychotherapist, segued into a practice with his wife, Laura Newman. In 2022, the couple launched Lefty’s Coffee, a Los Olivos coffeeshop built around ethical sourcing and sustainability.

Raised in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, Tauber went to the Woodstock festival in 1969. While there — according to a post he wrote for StoriedStuff.com — he “shared joints with the Grateful Dead” and, while trying to hitchhike home on that Monday morning, watched Jimi Hendrix play his medley that was punctuated by “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Along with his wife, Tauber is survived by their daughters J. Lucy, Dixie and Zazu and his sister Joanie. A private funeral is planned, with a celebration of life to occur at a later date.