For Kary Antholis, Life Has Been a Gift

For Kary Antholis, born and raised in Florham Park, life has been rewarding.

Antholis founded Crime Story Media, LLC after his retirement from HBO. “I've just always been interested in complex stories about crime, criminality, its impacts, and the way we as a society go about trying to punish people or prevent crime. I taught a couple of classes at USC, one on crime drama, one on crime documentaries and podcasts. I was attached to a few projects that I had put into development at HBO that were in that world and I started publishing podcasts.” Antholis has two, limited series projects that are coming out in 2022. We Own This City premiered on HBO in April, and the other is called Black Bird, and that will be on Apple TV+ in July. Antholis also had a podcast that was nominated for an Ambie Award called Firebug. “I'm in the process of transitioning that from the podcast to trying to do it as a television series,” he says. “All of these media forms kind of meld together.”

Antholis, 59, grew up in Florham Park and attended Delbarton High School. “There were a total of four of us from Florham Park and a couple of kids from Madison that that became kind of a crew in my class, and then my brother went there, too.” His memories of Florham Park are fond ones. “One of the things that I remember most clearly were sports. I was not a great athlete, but I was a devoted one, and I enjoyed living in Florham Park. I lived there essentially until I was 18 years old, and went back a couple of summers when I was in college and worked summer jobs in and around the area. Florham Park had a big impact on me. I enjoyed my time in school and played sports there, learned discipline, learned how to read and write and do math, and I think very fondly of my youth there.”

Antholis graduated from Maine’s Bowdoin College in 1984 with a Bachelor’s degree in History and French, and got his Master’s degree in History from Stanford University. Antholis also graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center and serves on the Board of Visitors there.

Antholis in 1995 released a 41-minute documentary called, One Survivor Remembers, about the late Holocaust survivor, Gerda Weissmann Klein. It won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject and the Emmy for Outstanding Informational Special. “The most profound impact that Gerda had on me and making this film had on me was it made me want to be a better husband,” Antholis says. “And when I made the film, we did not have children, but it made me want to be a father - a good father.”

Antholis’ greatest gift that he’s received and gifted back was really making an effort to be present in the moment, and particularly with his family. “If there's anything that I continue to aspire to do, it’s to be present for my wife, and to be present for my kids,” he says. “I think being vigilant about being present for the things that I'm doing in life, and for the people that I'm working with, or that are part of my family and my friends, being present is a kind of perpetual ambition.”

For more information about Crime Story, LLC, visit www.crimestory.com.