John Tod Coakley
1961 – 2006

John Tod CoakleyOur beloved son, John Tod Coakley was born August 9, 1961 at Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, CA. He grew up in the west San Fernando Valley, graduated from El Camino High School and attended Pierce Community College for 2 years.

Tod began working part-time for J. C. Backings when he was 14 years old. He joined J. C. Backings full time in 1981 becoming a member of Local 816 as a shop man. He worked 7 months for J. C. Backings, and then left to work for other studios such as ABC, NBC, CBS and The Burbank Studios as an assistant scenic artist before returning to J. C. Backings in 1983. He worked for the company as a scenic artist for 2 years before taking a leave of absence to pursue other interests. He returned full time to J.C. Backings in 1989.

In 1994, Tod Coakley successfully started producing photographic backings for J.C. Backings. He has worked on numerous Motion Picture and Television productions in the short span of his professional life. Some of the productions he worked on were Copy Cat, The Nutty Professor 1 & 2, Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls, Mars Attack, Jingle All The Way, Dr Dolittle 1 & 2, U. S. Marshals, The Negotiator, Matrix, The Perfect Storm, Pay It Forward, Ally McBeal, Artificial Intelligence, K-Pax, Men In Black 1 & 2, Red Dragon, Terminal, 7th Heaven, The O. C., Click, X-Men 3, Boston Legal, NCIS, The Longest Yard, Underdog, Desperate Housewives, Perfect Stranger and You, Me and Dupree. He was currently working on Disturbia and Blades of Glory.

Tod was a son, brother, father, businessman, professional photographer and a huge asset to J. C. Backings.  He died at the age of 44 on Sunday, April 2, 2006 in a tragic and very unexpected accident.

The family held a celebration of Tod’s life on April 9th at his home. Tod is survived by his two children Erica (19), Ryan (17), parents Gary and Jackie, sisters Lynne and Lisa, grandmothers Marie and Dorothie, brothers-in-law Pierre and Christian and his niece Claire.

He will be deeply missed.

John Gary Coakley