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Before he joined the agency in 1994, he executive produced telefilms that starred Brian Dennehy as Chicago cop Jack Reed.
By Mike Barnes
Senior Editor
Tony Etz, who executive produced Brian Dennehy-starring telefilms before serving as a CAA agent for 30 years, died Monday in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, the agency announced. He was 64.
During his CAA tenure that began in 1994 as an agent in the TV department and ended as co-head of packaging, Etz represented writers, directors, actors and producers and was involved with such hit series as Lost, House, Big Little Lies, Grey’s Anatomy, Rescue Me, Brothers and Sisters, Band of Brothers and Jackass.
Survivors include his wife of 25 years, fellow CAA agent Nancy Axelrode, and their son, Alex, who recently got a job in the agency mailroom after graduating from the University of Michigan to work alongside his folks.
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A native of Beaufort, South Carolina, Etz attended Illinois’ Knox College, where he was involved in Catch, the student literary magazine, serving as an editor on the 1983 edition that received the National Program Directors’ Prize from the Associated Writers and Writing Programs.
Following graduation that year, he attended a writers’ workshop at the University of Iowa, where he earned his masters degree before co-authoring the 1990 book Off-Hollywood Movies: A Film Lover’s Guide. He then moved to New York and California to work in the entertainment business.
He executive produced three telefilms that starred Dennehy as Chicago cop Jack Reed from 1992-94 and worked on other TV movies that starred Raquel Welch, Melissa Gilbert, Peter Horton and Lisa Hartman.
A fourth-generation Knox alumnus, Etz was appointed chairman of the college’s board of trustees in 2022.
Last year, the school unveiled the Etz Family Institute for Civic Leadership and Dialogue, which “prepares students to work across differences and have the difficult dialogues necessary to create lasting and positive change in the world.”
The school “has lost a true champion of the institution, its community and its transformative education,” Knox president C. Andrew McGadney said in a statement.
“As chair of the presidential search committee that brought me to Knox in 2021, Tony was one of the first members of the Knox community that I met and was integral in my decision to join the Knox community. His enthusiasm for the power of a liberal arts education was infectious. As a fourth-generation legacy, his knowledge of Knox history was immense, and his approach to leadership — clear-eyed, dynamic and mission-driven — was inspiring.”
He also served as an adjunct professor at USC since 2011.
Etz loved traveling, reading and music — particularly obscure British pop bands — and was a longtime Chicago Cubs fan and Los Angeles Lakers season-ticket holder.
Survivors also include his siblings, David, Kathy and Sara.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Knox Fund here or via mail at Office of Advancement, Knox College, Campus Box K230, 2 E South St., Galesburg, IL 61401. Please include a note indicating the gift is in memory of Tony Etz.
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