Rick Tuber Dies: Emmy-Winning ‘ER’, ‘Chicago Fire’ Film Editor Was 69

Rick Tuber, a TV and film editor who won an Emmy and an ACE Eddie Award for his work on NBC’s classic medical drama ER, died January 7 of a heart attack at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 69.

His death was confirmed to Deadline by a family spokesperson.

Tuber’s many editing credits stretch back to the mid-1980s and 1990s, with work on such series as Cagney & Lacey, Wiseguy, Nash Bridges and Martial Law, among others. Subsequent credits include Awake; 23 episodes of The Unit and 13 of Salem; Chicago Fire; and, his final credit in 2017, Bones.

Tuber and fellow editor Randy Jon Morgan won the Emmy Award in 1995 for their editing of ER during the show’s first season.

During his prolific career, he worked for such showrunners and directors as Steven Spielberg, Aaron Spelling, Stephen J. Cannell, Shawn Ryan, Tyler Perry, Mimi Leder, Steven Bochco, David Mamet, John Wells and many others. His early feature film credits as assistant editor include Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988), The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).

In addition to his editing work, Tuber authored the book Shanghai Cuts: A Hollywood Film Editor’s Misadventures in China, which told of his experiences working on a Dennis Hopper series in that country, and several noir-style novels including the upcoming Love, Death, and Whisky: The Last Wee Dram.

He is survived by wife, Shirley; sons Neil, Peter, Sean and Sam; grandchildren Tyler, Jackson and Mia; and brother, Doug, a television writer. He was preceded by his father, Richard Tuber, an Emmy-winning TV writer, and his twin brother, entertainment journalist Keith Tuber.