Intellectual property group co-founder and partner Jerry Kalajian dies at 68

Literary executive Jerry Kalajian, partner at Intellectual Property Group, died of cancer on September 9 at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California. He was 68 years old. The intellectual property group has confirmed Kalajian's death.

Throughout his career, Kalajian has served as an agent, manager and producer, forming close ties with literary agencies across the globe. His career has been defined by a love and passion for authors and their books, championing their literary voices whenever he could.

He has represented numerous adaptations of prestigious books for film and television, including "Life of Pi ", "The Book Thief" and "Big Little Lies". He also represented a long list of producers, directors, literary talents and screenwriters during his tenure.

Kalajian was a frequent visitor to Sydney, Australia, and was known to be an avid traveler, frequenting plus over 30 years of London Book Fair, Toronto, Cannes and many other film festivals. Professionally, he was described as an intelligent and wise adviser, in addition to being a dear friend to his peers.

Kalajian was born in Detroit and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1974. He worked as a forward waiter began his Hollywood career at the Diamond Talent Agency with Abby Greshler. Later, he became a talent agent at Herb Tobias & Associates and the Performing Arts Agency. After APA, Kalajian formed a partnership for a new literary agency called Becsey, Wisdom, Kalajian. Finally, he collaborated with Larry Becsey and Joel Gotler to establish the intellectual property group. The three worked together for 20 years at IPG, along with associates Leslie Conliffe and Brian Lipson.

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday. In lieu of flowers, IPG requests that they be sent to The Scripps Health Foundation in support of The Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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