In Memoriam: Eric Pearce

Lighting&Sound America has learned of the death of Eric Pearce, owner and CEO of SGPS/Showrig, the scenic fabrication, rigging, and automation specialist company. Peace passed away on July 24 at the age of 72.

Originally established in 1974 as Showlites, the company developed into a major industry player. Pearce developed such concert-touring-friendly products as "Par-Bar" and the use of multi-core cables with Socapex connectors. By the 1980s, a new office in Los Angeles began providing staging (ShowStaging) and custom fabrication (ShowFabrications). Pearce also pioneered the use of modular aluminum truss and dedicated equipment packaging. In 2004, a Las Vegas branch (ShowRig) was opened to supply truss and motors to the convention and trade show markets; it became the corporate headquarters. In 2008, a Nashville office opened to focus on country music touring. A New Orleans office, founded to service the film industry, opened in 2011. Next came offices in Atlanta (2014), Boston (2016), and Chicago (2019). The company's theatrical division was inaugurated in 2018 with the installation of a kinetic ceiling in the Las Vegas nightclub KAOS.

In 2013, Pearce received a Parnelli Visionary Award, sponsored by the industry publication PLSN.

Production designer Seth Jackson, principal of the firm The Darkroom Creative, has penned a moving tributed to Pearce:

"Marc Brickman, Bryan Hartley, Nick Whitehouse, Ed Wannebo, Pete Radice, Nathan Alves, and a host of industry leaders could have all written this. Everyone who had the privilege to cross Eric's path had the same result; they were lifted. Eric had a way of encouraging, pushing, and pulling out the best in everyone. His energy was infectious. His love for the business he helped create was immeasurable. Even after decades of inventing and crafting new technologies that pushed concert lighting and staging forward, he would become as excited as a kid at Christmas to show off a new C&C router, or a widget he had invented that would make something as simple as a riser deck work better.

"With designers, nothing scared him. In fact, he would light up when faced with a daunting challenge. In the 20-plus years I knew him, he never frowned or looked concerned about a new project. Instead, he would get this enormous smile and jump into the challenge.

"In my book, I referred to him as a mad scientist. I still think it is the perfect description. When I first met him, I was an up-and-coming kid, on the verge of being established in the industry. Eric brought me over that hill. His willingness to treat me just like he would one of my own heroes, Marc Brickman, encouraged me to try for the crazy idea -- knowing that my mad scientist would dutifully solve any challenge. I began to trust in my own mind and not talk myself out of things just because I didn't know how to do it. Eric showed no fear, and I drew strength from him.

"Yes, Eric was a legend. Yes, Eric helped invent a business. Yes, Eric was an innovator. But to so many of us, his most important memories will be his ability to dream big things, to encourage people to not be afraid, to never say 'it can't work,' and to lift and encourage those around him.

"Eric helped birth an industry. He then helped raise that industry from cowboys to corporate. Yet he never became jaded. He never lost the spark of an industry that dared to create itself out of thin air. We didn't go find out how to do this job, people like Eric had to invent it.

"Eric lived out George Bernard Shaw's quote perfectly: 'Some men see things as they are and say 'why.' I dream things that never were and say 'why not'."