Sid Sheinberg, who served as President/COO of MCA Entertainment and Universal Studios for more than four decades, working alongside fellow giant Lew Wasserman, died Thursday (3/7) at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 84.

Though he earned a reputation for being tough as nails, Sheinberg had an abiding belief in artistry, famously telling Steven Spielberg, "I will support you as strongly in failure as I will in success.”

“My heart is broken at this news,” Spielberg said after hearing the sad news. “For now, let me just say that Sid had a big personality and a tender heart. He was the tallest, most stand-up guy I ever knew. He gave birth to my career and made Universal my home. He gave me Jaws, I gave him ET and he gave me Schindler’s List. We were a team for 25 years, and he was my dear friend for 50. I have no concept about how to accept that Sid is gone. For the rest of my life I will owe him more than I can express.”

It was Sheinberg who hired Irving Azoff to run MCA Records back in the day. He led MCA’s 1988 acquisition of Motown for $61 million and its $550m purchase of Geffen Records in 1990, soon after Azoff’s departure. That same year, he and Wasserman masterminded MCA’s sale to Matsushita for $6.6b. Sheinberg remained at the company until 1995, following its acquisition by Seagram’s Edgar Bronfman Jr., with whom he’d reportedly had a major falling out.

Sheinberg was a visionary, but his actual vision was another matter entirely. Sitting in courtside seats at the Forum with Azoff for a Lakers game, he continually asked which team had the ball.

Trivia: Sheinberg’s wife, actress Lorraine Gary, came out of retirement to play the female lead in what IMDB describes as “the regrettably dreadful” Jaws: The Revenge (1987), which Spielberg had absolutely nothing to do with.