| Bill Novey | |
| Birth Date: | 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Downers Grove, Illinois |
| Death Date: | August 1, 1991 |
| Death Place: | Burbank, California |
| Occupation: | Special Effects Master / Head of Special Effects at Walt Disney Imagineering/ co-founder of Art & Technology, Inc. |
| Spouse: | Jody Van Meter |
William Novey (1948–1991) was an American special effects guru in Hollywood, Head of Special Effects at Walt Disney Imagineering in the 1970s, and co-founder of Art & Technology, Inc. with Disney executive Joe Garlington in the 1980s.[1]
At Disney, Novey was tasked with overseeing 6000 special effects in the Epcot Center near Orlando, Florida and Tokyo Disneyland.[2] He invented over 300 projectors and helped inspire a new wave of special effects and technological innovations including the first use of holograms and vector-scanning laser projections in a theme park.[3]
At Art & Technology, Novey developed a number of memorable special effects and high-tech exhibits seen in various theme parks around the world, including the first ever motion-simulator in a museum.[4]
Novey holds a number of US patents.[5]
He was born William E. Novey in 1948 in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Novey earned bachelor's degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering, and a Master's in Theater Technology from California Institute of the Arts.
He was married to entertainment executive Jody Van Meter.
He died in 1991 at age 43 from Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.[6] He is buried at the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills.[7]
In October 2008, a bench was donated in Novey's honor in the Garden Walk at the library in his hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois with an inscription that reads: “William E. Novey, Who Made the World a Happier Place."[8]