the group that purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers. Following high school graduation, Guber enrolled in the pre-law curriculum at Syracuse University. He played intramural football and rushed the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Guber spent his junior year abroad at Syracuse's Florence, Italy campus. At Syracuse he met his future wife, Tara Lynda Francine Gellis, whom he married in 1964. Guber enrolled at New York University, where he earned his J.D. and LL.M. law degrees, studying for his MBA at night. As he neared graduation in 1968, Guber accepted a position with Columbia Pictures as a management trainee. Career Columbia Pictures Guber joined Columbia Pictures in 1968, as assistant to Jerry Tokofsky, who headed the studio’s creative affairs department, which had the tasks of evaluating scripts and overseeing actors, directors, and producers. Tokofsky later spoke warmly of Guber’s usefulness to him. At Columbia, Guber, an exceptionally early proponent of computerization and entertainment technologies, began computerizing files on working actors and made available tape-recorded summaries of scripts for other executives to listen to while bathing. A year after arriving at Columbia, Guber, having witnessed a demonstration of an early video cassette machine, published "The New Ballgame/The Cartridge Revolution," an analysis of the changes to be wrought by home video technology, in the journal Cinema. Guber was transferred to the business affairs division. Guber paid to fly himself to Columbia's New York City office and successfully argued for his promotion to vice-president of creative affairs. Shortly thereafter Guber was named head of American production. In August 1973 he was promoted to vice-president of worldwide production. Steven Spielberg noted that he "used to go to (Guber's) office at Columbia when (he) was just starting. (Guber) had an enormous chart on (his) wall with what every director in the world was planning that listed their pictures in development and planned for production." It made a lasting impression on Spielberg. During his time at Columbia the studio released, among other films, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, Tommy, and The Way We Were. Upon leaving Columbia in 1975, Guber was given a three-year production deal with the studio. Independent producer Guber launched his career as an independent film producer with The Deep (1977), which became the one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Guber also bought the rights and served as executive producer for Midnight Express (1978). Produced by Alan Marshall and David Puttnam, the film earned seven