Culver City Observer -

Charles "Chuck" McIlvain, an employee of Sony Imageworks in Culver City was among the dead in Monday morning's tragic fire on the dive boat Conception which killed 34 people.

McIlvain, a Santa Monica resident, along with Marybeth Guiney, another Santa Monica resident were both out for a dive trip over the long Labor Day weekend when the disaster struck.

McIlvain worked for Sony for fifteen years.

He was considered a strong information technology professional with a bachelor's degree in Applied Science (BASc) focused in Animation and Visual Effects from Expression College for Digital Arts. He also held a bachelor's degree in Science in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley.

Joseph Spadaro, a character effects artist at DreamWorks Animation, had high praise for McIlvain.

"Chuck always has a smile on his face even in the face of danger... This guy has worked on so many hard projects and always knows the scoop," Spadaro said. "I had the pleasure of working with him again this year on The Green Lantern and we always had the same idea for what the best solution would be."

Another associate, Kevin Scott, an animation director, commented about working with Mcllvain on LinkedIn.

"I loved working with Chuck," Scott said. "He is extremely thorough and able to diagnose issues quickly. His end product is functional, clean and very quick. I look forward to the day when we may work together again. He is fun to be around and a pleasure to call a colleague."

A longtime friend of McIlvain, Culver City Councilman Alex Fisch on Tuesday night adjourned the council meeting in honor of his memory. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he described McIlvain as a "radiant bright light in many people's lives."

Like a sucker punch, Fisch became aware that McIlvain was on the boat when he saw the news that morning. After checking McIlvain's Facebook Page, he knew his friend was going diving that weekend off the Channel Islands.

Fisch sent McIlvain and McIlvain's wife, Jasmine, a text message asking if they were OK. Jasmine texted back. Her husband had been on the boat.

"My jaw dropped," Fisch said. "I looked at the comments below the Facebook post, and people were freaking out and wondering if they were on that charter," as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

"I can't emphasize enough the unique combination of creativity, intelligence and wonderful presence that he had," Fisch told the Los Angeles Times.

He was married to Jasmine Lord. They were married in 2013.

The fire is being investigated by multiple agencies including the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).