Carol Jean Busching (née Carol Jean Corbett) passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on May 2 at her home in Los Angeles. The cause of death was lung cancer. She was 86.
Born and raised in Southern California, Busching was just five days away from her 66th wedding anniversary to her beloved husband, Tony. Partners in all things, in the 1960’s Carol and Tony successfully founded Paisley Productions, a company based in Hollywood to make television commercials. This was when the advertising business was still in its early stages promoting products on television. After a 20-plus year run, the couple moved west to Venice, Calif., and subsequently formed Electric Avenue Films.
Carol was in many ways a pioneer in the field of commercial production, doing accounting and cost reporting, budgeting and payroll on film shoots for some of the biggest companies in the country. Hired by many multinational clients such as Chevron, Ford, McDonald’s and Radio Shack, they were responsible for work that was shot all around the world. It was a high risk, but high return enterprise and Carol’s personal strength, intelligence and intuition served the partnership well.
At the same time, Carol and Tony raised three daughters, with Carol showing her girls that a woman can manage a successful career while also being a devoted mother. It was a lesson that her girls would not just take to heart but emulate.
Besides her family, which always came first, Carol had deep interests. She loved thoroughbred racehorses, cooking, reading, crossword puzzles, and her dogs. But above all, she found her greatest joy in being a beloved wife to Tony, and a mother, sister, aunt and grandmother.
For all those who knew her, Carol’s laugh was her signature. It came easy to her and was a kind of music that filled any room that Carol entered. She was beautiful, inside and out.
Carol is survived by her husband, Tony, daughters and son in-laws, Alisa (husband Bryan), Jamie (Nellson), Jenifer (Mike), her five granddaughters, and her sister, Joan.
Donations in her memory can be made to Tunnels to Towers Foundation.
