IMAX co-founder Roman Kroitor dead at 85

IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond said: “Roman was a true visionary, artist and man whose imagination wasn’t limited by technology.”Sad news in the world of Canadian innovation today, as IMAX announced that co-founder Roman Kroitor passed away on September 16th at the age of 85.

Along with along with Graeme Ferguson, Robert Kerr and Bill Shaw, Kroitor founded IMAX in 1968.

Mississauga-based IMAX originated at Expo ’67 in Montreal, when Kroitor and Ferguson’s films, which used multi-screen, multi-projector systems, did not work well. The pair decided to try and improve the technology, founding a company called Multiscreen, based on the technology of Australian inventor Ronald Jones. The technology eventually morphed into a large, single screen format and the company changed its name to IMAX.

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IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond said: “Roman was a true visionary, artist and man whose imagination wasn’t limited by technology. In fact, his creative imagination inspired new technology that changed the way people would experience movies forever, which was the foundation from which IMAX was built,” adding,” “We all owe a debt of gratitude to Roman and will honor his memory by carrying on his spirit of creativity, inventiveness and his passion for bringing the most immersive and inspiring film experiences to audiences worldwide.”

Kroitor, who was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1926, enjoyed a long career at Canada’s National Film Board, where he worked on some of that organization’s most acclaimed documentaries, including films on Glenn Gould and Igor Stravinksy. In 1991, he co-directed Rolling Stones: At the Max, the first feature film produced in the IMAX format, and he produced the IMAX® 3D film CyberWorld in 2000.

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