Produce Business magazine is deeply saddened to report that Jim Prevor has suddenly passed away from heart failure after being stricken by a heart attack and stroke. On this earth for merely 61 years, 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. He is survived by his wife, Debbie, sons William and Matthew, and loving extended family and friends.
The upcoming New York Produce Show and Conference will continue as scheduled in Manhattan this coming November 29 – December 2, with a special tribute to Prevor’s contributions to the industry.
Founder of Produce Business magazine in 1985, just a couple years after his education at Cornell University, he saw the need for a publication to inform and educate the buying segments of the fruit and vegetable industry.
His “Fruits of Thought” column garnered more than 100 awards in business journalism, including the Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity, which recognized his commanding presence and leadership during the Great Spinach Crisis of 2006. His PerishablePundit.com website became the platform searched by news outlets outside of the industry, and Prevor was asked to appear on national television news stations, as well as to keynote and speak at industry events and within boardrooms around the world.
His words about the fresh produce industry were featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Weekly Standard, to name a few.
His entrepreneurial spirit carried forward with other buyer-oriented publications created in the fresh food arena — Deli Business, Cheese Connoisseur, Floral Business, and PerishableNews.com — and in 2010, he launched the New York Produce Show and Conference as the first recurring produce industry event to take place in America’s hub of international trade. Along with the partnership of the Eastern Produce Council, the event is now the largest fixed-site fresh produce trade show in North America.
Prevor took the success of the New York Produce Show and utilized his vast international network of industry friends to create the London Produce Show and the Amsterdam Produce Show. Most recently, he gathered an international audience of grape breeders, growers, wholesalers, and retailers at the Global Grape Summit.
“The staff of Produce Business, Phoenix Media Network, and the global perishable food industry will feel a tremendous void in his absence,” said Ken Whitacre, executive vice president and publisher. “Jim was larger-than-life and, as such, his spirit will forever be with us. We will honor his legacy by carrying on his passion and mission to ‘initiate industry improvement.’”
"Jim was one of those special people that made such an impression that I remember exactly where I was when I met him," says IFPA's Cathy Burns. "It was in the PMA offices in Newark, Delaware. and I had just started at the association. Jim made the trip to welcome me to the industry in person. He built such a reputation that the industry was always curious “I wonder what Jim Prevor will say about that?”
If you wish to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, email rememberingjim@producebusiness.com.