PARK CITY, Utah — Jack Gallagher, the founder of Golden Days-era online adult website Babenet.com, died this morning after a lengthy illness.
Gallagher was a former CPA for Price Waterhouse, who found success in the adult space by launching an adult mail-order DVD distribution business, started up the Adam & Eve cable channel and made a bet with the Babenet.com franchise with other partners.
Babenet.com, in its day, offered the best of the best in online porn. The site ran from 1997-2006.
Gallagher, however, didn’t just enter the online space for his knowledge of technology.
Prior to his Internet endeavors, Gallagher was a lieutenant of Larry Flynt’s Hustler enterprise.
Gallagher was the first president ever tapped for LFP Publishing.
“He loomed larger than life, even in the hard days of the 1980s in porn when it was tough to distribute,” said longtime online adult exec Greg Dumas. “He was so much fun to be around. He was a great guy and mentor. There are so many favorite memories of Jack.”
Dumas told XBIZ on Sunday that he laments Gallagher’s death; however, he revers all the memories of him. Gallagher had been in failing health the past few years.
“He was like a character from ‘Boogie Nights,’” Dumas said, recalling the days in the 1980s when Gallagher would always travel with $5,000 wound up in hundred-dollar bills around a rubberband. “It was in case he had to post bail [on an obscenity-based arrest]. He knew that if he had to post cash on a Friday that he’d be out the next day. He didn’t want to waste one day.”
Dumas said that Gallagher later moved to Park City, Utah, where he “enjoyed life” and golfed and skied with his family.
“He had a lot of love for the world, and he was always there to help people,” he said.
Online adult veteran and colleague Jason Tucker, upon hearing about Gallagher's passing, told XBIZ: "Jack was a legend in our business, a visionary, a man with true wild stories, solid advice, and he was above all else a gentleman. He will be missed by many"