Jim Paratore, TMZ Co-Founder, Gone At 58

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Jim Paratore might have never been a household name, but his shadow lingered over much of the entertainment industry. As a longtime executive at Warner Bros, he was an integral part in getting shows like The People’s Court, Extra, The Bachelor and The Rosie O’Donnell Show on the air. When much of the world turned its back on Ellen DeGeneres, he almost single-handedly pushed to get her a talk show. He also co-founded TMZ.com and helped turn it into the force it is today.

Paratore died this afternoon of an apparent heart attack. According to TMZ, he was on a cycling trip in France and efforts to save him were unsuccessful. Paratore is survived by a wife, a daughter and dozens of celebrities and entertainment workers who owe their careers and legacies to him.

TMZ often gets a bad wrap in the media for covering celebrity gossip. Whether that’s fair or not is for you to decide, but what is important is that Paratore pushed for honesty and accuracy in reporting, making his website one of the few entertainment sources that almost always gets the story right.

Paratore was only fifty-eight. Pop Blend’s thoughts go out to those closest to him, as well as the entire entertainment community. He had his hand in a lot of special projects during his lifetime, and they will live on long after he’s gone.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.