Plastics publishing giant, IMM co-founder, Peter Zacher, dead at 75

It is our sad duty to report that Peter M. Zacher, who was instrumental to the development of plastics industry publishing for more than 40 years, died on December 22, 2010 in Delray Beach, FL. He was, among many other plastics-related accomplishments, a co-founder of Injection Molding Magazine, now published by UBM Canon.

Born in Milwaukee, WI on March 23, 1935, Zacher completed high school in Milwaukee in 1954, graduated Babson College in 1958, and then served in the U.S. Navy. Following a sales stint with White Motor Co. he joined Cleworth Publishing Co. of Cos Cob, CT to sell advertising for Plastics World magazine in Ohio, Michigan, and Canada, thus beginning his four-decade-plus career in plastics publishing.

Zacher was a regional manager for Plastics World when he left in 1971 to become part-owner of Plastics Machinery & Equipment, a tabloid publication of Industry Media Inc. He was instrumental in that company's launching of Plastics Design Forum and Plastics Compounding magazines, and the Plastics Fair regional trade shows.

About ten years after joining the firm, Zacher and his partners sold Industry Media to HBJ Publications, which subsequently became Edgell Communications and then Advanstar Communications. Zacher worked in the plastics group of those companies for almost ten years, which included launching Advanced Composites magazine, among other publications and events.

In 1993 Zacher became chairman of the newly formed Abby Communications, named for his departed and well-loved Labrador retriever. In that same year Abby launched Injection Molding Magazine, which would be named one of Folio Magazine's 10 most successful new American publications of the 1990s. Zacher continued in that capacity until his retirement in 2001, following the sale of Abby to Canon Communications, which recently become UBM Canon.

Zacher's involvement with the plastics industry was as much a passion as it was a career and continued after his retirement. He remained active in the Plastics Pioneers Association, including several leadership positions. "Peter Zacher was a life long enthusiast for the plastics industry," said T. Peter Sullivan, who was publisher of Injection Molding Magazine and, along with Suzy Witzler, a co-founder of Abby. "He travelled the world effectively selling space in his magazines, all the while building good will for the industry. He was a dear friend to many and will be missed."

Zacher, who was a long-term resident of Shaker Heights, OH, is survived by his wife Judy (MacNeil Borom), his daughter Wendy Davidson of Moreland Hills, OH, his daughter Andrea Brown of Darien, CT, and six grandchildren. Details of a memorial service are to be released soon.