Randy Tillim: What Happened To The Savage Garage Host?
911 call records indicate that Randy Tillim went inside a closet and shot himself with a rifle. There has been no official confirmation on whether it was suicide or accidental.
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The sudden and unexpected death of Savage Garage YouTube channel host Randy Tillim has left a large void in the sports car industry. With the circumstances of his death still shrouded in mystery, Tillim’s family continues to ask for privacy.
Rumors and speculation have swirled not only about Tillim’s shocking death, but the fortune he left behind.
RANDY SAVAGE DIED FROM A SELF-INFLICTED GUNSHOT WOUND
We may never know the exact circumstances surrounding Randy Tillim’s death. His shocking demise came only days after he held his annual Savage Rally. By all accounts, Tillman appeared happy and healthy during the rally, so when the news broke that he had tragically passed, it came as a shock to all who had known the man and who had just recently seen him at the Savage Rally.
There were two rumors floating after Randy Tillim’s passing. One that popped up was that he had perished in a car accident. The “accident” part was true as fellow YouTuber, Aaron Palos, went on his own YouTube channel, Life of Palos, to report that he spoke with Savage Garage’s management team to confirm that yes, Randy Tillim had perished in a “very unfortunate accident.”
While they were unable to confirm what that accident entailed, details began to emerge when a 911 dispatch call was heard. The call came from Randy’s wife Ana. From that call it was ascertained that Randy had sustained a gunshot wound from a rifle and at that moment he was unresponsive. The information relay from the 911 dispatcher was, “Ana is the caller. It will be for her husband who just shot himself, a 50-year-old male. Not conscious, not breathing… and it was done by a rifle. The victim was in the closet.”
Some reports claimed that Tillim was shot in the head, while others negate that by saying he was shot in the chest. To date, it has not been formally clarified if the bullet wound was accidental or suicide. Upon the news of his death breaking, Savage Garage took to Instagram to confirm Tillim’s death.
Ten days after Savage Garage posted Randy Tillim’s death confirmation, Ana Tillim also took to Savage Garage’s Instagram page to post a thank you to fans of her husband for their outpouring of love, concern, and condolences, while also requesting that people should respect the family’s wishes of not posting “any content that uses Randy’s likeness until further notice.”
There is no word on how much longer it will be before Randy Tillim’s official cause of death will be released.
RANDY TILLIM’S NET WORTH MAY HAVE BEEN $5 BILLION
Another source of controversy, though nothing as important as the cause of death, is Randy Tillim’s net worth upon his passing. There have been many reports stating that Tillim’s net worth was over $5 billion. But is this true?
Randy Tillim’s big money maker undoubtedly was CLARUS. This is where the confusion probably came from. An Authority Presswire article once described CLARUS as having processed “more than $5 billion last year.” Heck, even the CLARUS website itself says they processed over $7 billion. Unfortunately, though, this does not go into the “net worth” column of Randy Tillim.
Differing CLARUS revenue numbers aside, the exact salary for Randy Tillim as the company’s CEO is unknown. Now, the average CEO salary, per Salary.com, is a “mere” $788,000 a year. With Tillim holding that title for 20 years, that puts lifetime earnings more around $16-18 million. Of course, he also had whatever revenue he was generating from Savage Garage, but even with that, $5 billion is quite a stretch.
We may never know the exact amount of Randy Tillim’s net worth upon his untimely and sad passing and perhaps that is none of our business. One thing we will eventually know, though, is the exact cause of his death. That is something his many fans, colleagues, and admirers across the globe feel they have a right to know.
RANDY TILLIM WAS THE HOST OF SAVAGE GARAGE AND A FATHER
Most people knew Randy Tillim by way of his Savage Garage YouTube channel. Randy was more than just Savage Garage, though. He was a loving husband to his wife Ana, a father to his three sons, and also a father to his two dogs, Tucker and Oscar.
Along with being a father and a husband, Tillim was also the CEO of CLARUS Merchant Services. The company was founded by Tillim in 1999 and is a credit card payment and processing provider. The Payments Journal says Tillim’s CLARUS business saw more than $8 billion worth of activity per year. The CLARUS website scales that number back a teeny bit by claiming they only process over $7 billion a year. Either way, business was booming for Randy Tillim and CLARUS.
Throughout Randy and Ana’s 29-year marriage, they raised their family, built their successful businesses, and strengthened their love and bond. As YouTube became more of a thing where content creators could flourish, Randy Tillim and his wife collaborated for Savage Sweets, a baking series that was seen on Randy’s YouTube channel.
Ana took the lead on anything and everything cooking and baking. She studied at the Culinary Institute of America from 1989-1991 and even started her own business, Ana’s Cakes. Although Ana was big into baking and cooking, she was also big into Randy Tillim’s world as she was a fast-car fanatic, same as her husband.
Tillim earned his Harvard bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management and also went on to get his master’s degree at Harvard in Corporate Finance and Economics. And although Randy Tillim made his fortune with CLARUS, he is better known for Savage Garage. With his YouTube channel, Randy Tillim gained notoriety by showing his subscribers how to drive unique cars through his videos.
Many of his highlights, though, moved away from the exotic cars and could have been mistaken for episodes on the TV show Cops. Some of Tillim’s most-viewed videos have titles like Our Greatest Cop Moments or Our All-Time Best Cop Moments or Corrupt Kentucky Cops Illegally Ticket Supercar Owners. Some of his big videos brought together his exotic sportscars and the law with the results oftentimes being very combative.
