Ken Whitacre
Jim Prevor, president of Phoenix Media Network and founder/editor-in-chief of Deli Business, Cheese Connoisseur and Produce Business magazines, has died at the age of 61.
He also was a well-known figure in the produce industry, as well as U.S. .industry commentator Perishable Pundit, and founder of the New York and London Produce Shows.
He suddenly passed on November 7 as a result of heart failure following a heart attack and stroke in early October.
Prevor was a force of boundless energy and enthusiasm for the perishable food and fresh produce industry in which he was born and carried a rich family legacy.
Prevor founded Produce Business in 1985, a move that continued his family’s historic association with the fruit and vegetable sector.
Among other projects, the company went on to establish the New York Produce Show and Conference, an event that was later replicated as the London Produce Show and Conference.
His great-grandfather Jacob Prevor had opened a wholesale business in New York at the turn of the 20th century after emigrating from Russia.
Prevor’s grandfather Harry, father Michael and uncle Sydney all carried on that tradition, before their company, Prevor Marketing International, was sold to UK-based Polly Peck International in the summer of 1988.
“The staff of Deli Business, Cheese Connoisseur and Produce Business, our company, Phoenix Media Network, and the global perishable food industry, will feel a tremendous void in his absence,” says Ken Whitacre, Produce Business’ executive vice president and publisher. “Jim was larger than life and, as such, his spirit will forever be with us, and we will honor his legacy by carrying on his passion and mission to ‘initiate industry improvement’.”
Prevor is survived by his wife Debbie and two sons, William and Matthew.
