Oklahoma City, USA: Gary Story passed away
Gary Story, one of the industry leaders, passed away. The tall and charismatic man who was familiar with our industry for more than 40 years, died on September 21st in Oklahoma City.
Like some other industry veterans Gary started his career as a seasonal employee at a leisure park. After working 10 years in different operation positions with Six Flags he was a consultant for two new parks – Diversiones del Reino in Mexico and Luna Park in Sydney, Australia. He became General Manager of the Frontier City Theme Parks in Oklahoma City in 1984. Starting as an Executive Vice Preseident of Six Flags Inc. in 1992 he was “the face” of the Six Flags Group for around eleven years when he led the group in different positions as President, COO and Director till 2003.
With his business partner Kieran Burke, Gary Story led an investor to purchase and operations of two Water Parks in Tennessee and Virginia. Both, Kieran and Gary, also led the Premier Attractions Management, the operations company of Frontier City and White Water Bay in Oklahoma City and of Splashtown Water Park in Houston, Texas.
Gary Story was committed to the industry through all these times and was involved with the IAAPA as a member of several committees and the Board of Directors. He was Chairman of the IAAPA Board in 2004. Gary is survived by his wife Lorena and his three children. The Industry mourns for one of its veterans. (eap)
