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| Peter Jovanovich | |
Peter Jovanovich, longtime educational and academic publisher, died on July 15 at age 75, as reported by MyRye.
Jovanovich began his career in 1972 at Macmillan, where he started as a textbook salesperson and rose to v-p of the general books division. He then joined Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, run by his father, William Jovanovich, where he was director of the trade department, then executive vice president. In 1988, he became president and CEO after helping defend the company from a hostile takeover attempt by Robert Maxwell.
In 1992, the company was sold, and Jovanovich eventually joined Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, the school publishing company. He became president of McGraw-Hill's educational and professional publishing group. He then joined Pearson and oversaw the creation of Pearson Education. During Jovanovich's tenure, both companies successively became the world's largest educational publisher.
Jovanovich served as a director and chair of the Association of American Publishers, and in 2007, he was elected to the Educational Publishers Hall of Fame. For many years, he was on the board of the Alfred Harcourt Foundation, which provides college scholarships to students of need in the New York metropolitan area.
In 2003, Jovanovich was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans. The next year he received a double-lung transplant. He retired in 2005.
In retirement, he was a consultant to several educational companies and was involved in the local community, serving on the Rye City Council and as Deputy Mayor.
A service will be held Wednesday, July 31, at 11 a.m. at the Rye Presbyterian Church, Rye, N.Y. A reception will follow at 12:30 p.m. at Westchester Country Club.