James Fort Colistro

Show Business and Hospitality Executive James Colistro Dies in Vancouver

A man who spent more than fifty years as a publisher, producer, director and performer in a brilliant stage, television and hospitality career, has died in Vancouver.

Born in Winnipeg, Jim’s theatrical interest started at the age of 8, attending dance classes, in his to be, first hometown of Kamloops, BC. From that young age his abilities continued to grow becoming a sixteen-year-old scholarship student, at the National Academy of Ballet in New York.

He was publisher of the Canadian Entertainment News Paper ‘Stage Door’ and served on the faculty of the Ryerson University’s Professional Theatre Program in Toronto. In television, Jim was directly involved in hundreds of programs and TV series as a producer, director or staging director. They included the PBS drama special, Are You Now, starring Liza Minnelli; ~ the opening year of MTV’s ‘VJ’ broadcasts, with the new beginnings of the ‘Music Video’; ~ CBS’s daytime series, The Young and the Restless; ~ Fox’s game-show series Family Double Dare; ~ Nickelodeon’s Peabody Awarded for Television series Pinwheel; ~ CBC’s first Canadian Film Awards, ~ six yearly Anne Murray specials, ~ the musical series Bandwagon, and It’s a Musical World; and ETV’s Monkey Bars and Cucumber series; along with numerous theatrical stage productions and television commercials.

Jim returned to Vancouver 1999, adding his theatrical flair as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, and in 2006, moved to Braidwood Hospitality Management where he headed the Creative Services team. As much at home in the kitchen as he was around studios, stages and opulent hotels, Jim was a gourmet cook. His hobby and great love was to entertain friends and family. His flair for the arts invariably showed in his special private family affairs that ranged from intimate dinners to the most elaborate family celebrations.

A private family only service ~ interment to be held at a later date.