Noel P. Parente; CEO of Barr Media Group

Noel P. Parente, 52, chief executive officer of Barr Media Group, which distributes educational films. Parente grew up in San Francisco, graduated from San Francisco State University and attended Brooklyn Law School before going into the Air Force. He studied acting in New York, and then moved to Hollywood, where he acted in commercials before switching to the business side of the entertainment industry. He co-founded Full Service Entertainment in 1989, which merged with Barr Media Group in 1991. On Tuesday in Los Angeles of a heart attack.