A friend who made a big difference
By Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2001
Furnitureland has lost a great friend, confidant and authority with the death last week of Bill Peterson, founding editor of Furniture/Today.
Bill's death came a little more than a week after the 25th anniversary of the launch of the paper he was so instrumental in beginning, growing and making the industry's own.
The story of Bill and Steve Pond, founder and publisher of Furniture/ Today, is one that most MBAs wouldn't believe. Starting with a couple of casual conversations just prior to the April furniture market in 1976, Bill and Steve put together a team, lean but seasoned, that launched the furniture industry's own newspaper on Sept. 6, 1976.
Earlier this month, Furniture/Today published a retrospective on its first 25 years, reviewing the people and events of the quarter century. Without Bill's extraordinary integrity, knowledge of the business and voice of authority, the paper would not have prospered.
With his warm and friendly personality and wry sense of humor, Bill was a highly visible public persona. But he also was one who had the ears of the major players in the business, in large measure because of the confidence people had in his integrity and opinions.
As Furniture/Today moved from a once-every-two-weeks frequency to weekly, Bill was the one who reaffirmed the paper's primary function — to report the news comprehensively and fairly but, equally as important, to help everyone in furnitureland understand what the news meant.
Bill was not all Furniture/Today. He could be found on the golf course, at home or on trips, or fishing. And like so many of his fishing brethren, there were the occasional tales of the ones that got away.
As one of the original team, I'll miss him as a friend and colleague. Working with him those many years was a unique and wonderful experience.
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Peterson brought industry together
Sep 23, 2001 -
First Peterson scholarship winner named
Aug 4, 2002 -
Bill Peterson's heart was big enough for us all
Sep 23, 2001
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