Randy Tillim, the face of the Savage Garage YouTube channel, passed away earlier this month at the age of 51.
His death was announced in a post on social media by the Savage Garage team. The statement described Tillim as “as a true friend, and an icon”.
Who was Randy Tillim?
Tillum was an entrepreneur and businessman best known as a sports car enthusiast and host of the Savage Garage YouTube channel.
Savage Garage features Tillum and the rest of the team driving exotic cars “the way they were meant to be driven” and, in his own words, “play with exotic cars and hurt them”.
Tillim was often seen driving supercars on the channel, as well as showing off his own collection of cars.
Tillum was also CEO for CLARUS Merchant Services, a payment solutions company.
His profile on the site says: “Randy Tillim leads CLARUS as an established payments industry veteran.
“Tillim started CLARUS to be a transparent company after experiencing difficulties with payment processing as a restaurant owner.
“Under his leadership, CLARUS grew to process over $5 billion for over 7,000 merchants every year.
“His industry expertise and acumen are well respected around the country. He often speaks at partner events and conferences including the Electronic Transaction Association conference in Washington D.C.
“Tillim is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University.
“In his free time, Tillim enjoys spending time with his family, catching the latest automotive shows, and running in off-road rallies.”
How did he die?
On Instagram, Savage Garage broke the news of Tillim’s death, confirming that he passed away on Friday 15 April at the age of 51.
The statement said: “It’s with the utmost sadness, and unimaginable grief, that we must inform you that Randy ‘Savage’ Tillim, passed away last night, Friday, April 15th.
“This tragedy is beyond measure. Randy was the most kind, generous, and genuine person we never knew. He had a positive impact on everyone he met, and his legacy will live on forever.
“Randy will always be remembered as a true friend, and an icon. He will be greatly missed.
“Rest in Peace and “Stay Savage”.
“Our hearts go out to the family, especially Ana, Jack and Ryan during this difficult time. We kindly ask you for privacy to allow the family to grieve this unfathomable loss.
“We will communicate additional information regarding the Celebration of Life, once plans are finalised.”
Further details regarding the circumstances of Tillim’s death have not been released, including the cause of death.
Tributes for Randy Tillim
The Savage Garage channel posted its latest video on 15 April, the same day that the statement from the team said that Tillim died.
Fans and viewers have taken to the comments of the new video with their condolences.
One person wrote: “I’m actually lost for words, you’ve been a massive inspiration to me. RIP Randy, fly high.”
Another commented: “Rest in Peace Randy you will be missed. My thoughts and prayers going to Anna, your boys and the whole Savage team.”
“I’ve watched Savage Garage for almost 2 years now and it was truly what got me into cars. Randy seemed like such a great dude with a joy for life and generosity. He will be greatly missed,” wrote another.
What has his wife said?
Since announcing his death on 16 April, the Savage Garage Instagram account has been fairly inactive, however on Tuesday (26 April), it posted a video of Tillim’s wife, Ana.
She said: “For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ana, Randy was my husband.
“On April 15th he died and we’re all shattered and devastated. This has been a very, very difficult time.
“I lost my husband of 29 years, my children lost their father and we’re trying very hard to get through each day and continue.
“As you can imagine this has been extremely difficult for my entire family, his parents, my kids, everybody. We ask everyone who has been directly or indirectly affiliated with Savage Garage to please respect our wishes to not post anything that uses Randy’s content or his likeness.
“Thank you for understanding and respecting our wishes, we have no plans just yet for a service, for a celebration of life, we’re not there yet.
“We’re still trying to pick up the pieces. But I appreciate so much all the love and the condolences from everyone, and the outpouring of love is very obvious that Randy was very well loved.
“He touched so many lives and he’s going to be terribly missed.”
Ana ended the video by thanking the viewers once again for their “thoughts and prayers” and added: “As Randy always said, stay savage.”
