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Jack Loeks Sr., Movie Theater Innovator, Passes Away
posted by
Patrick Crowley
on
February 24, 2004 at 5:21 am
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — According to a report from the Grand Rapids Press, Jack Loeks Sr., the creator of a Michigan-area theater chain that helped popularize multiplexes, has passed away at the age of 85.
With his Studio 28 theater, which he opened in 1965, Loeks was the first to offer 12 screens in a single venue and, when he added another eight screens, the world’s first theater to have 20 screens.
“It predated other megaplexes by 20 years,” according to Bob Goodrich, president of Goodrich Radio & Theaters Inc., a Kentwood-based theater chain. “The large lobbies, large screens, great service, quality picture and sound — they were the hallmark of Jack Loeks.”