Grant Imahara, best known as the MythBusters roboticist co-host, died suddenly Monday evening at 49. No details about Imahara’s death have been given, but the Hollywood Reporter is reporting he had a brain aneurysm.
Imahara’s co-hosts, including Kari Byron and Adam Savage, have taken to Twitter to offer their statements.
I’m at a loss. No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.
— Adam Savage (@donttrythis) July 14, 2020
The Discovery Channel also issued a statement, reading: “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
After MythBusters, Imahara co-hosted Netflix’s White Rabbit Project with fellow MythBusters alumni Byron and Tory Belleci in 2016. The show was a sort of spiritual successor to the popular MythBusters, and one that tried to “sleuth the truth” about “topics as diverse as jailbreaks, superpower technology, heists, and crazy World War II weapons.”
Before a career in TV, Imahara worked for Lucasfilm’s THX division and later joined Industrial Light and Magic. He worked there for nine years on movies including George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels, The Matrix Reloaded, Van Helsing, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
In a 2008 MachineDesign profile, Imahara said he was attracted to an engineering career because he “liked the challenge of designing and building things, figuring out how something works and how to make it better or apply it in a different way. When I was a kid, I never wanted to be James Bond. I wanted to be Q, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I guess you could say that engineering came naturally.”
Fellow MythBusters presenter and jet-car racer Jessi Combs died at 36 in August 2019 trying to break a speed record.
