Obituary: Peter Workman

Peter Workman, the founder of Workman Publishing Company, died on April 7 in his New York City home at the age of 74.

Workman founded and served as president and CEO of Workman Publishing, one of the largest independent publishers of nonfiction trade books and calendars. Under his stewardship, the company grew to encompass Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Artisan, HighBridge Audio, Storey Publishing, and Timber Press, in addition to the Workman imprint.

Born in Great Neck, Long Island, Workman attended Deerfield Academy and Yale University. He began his career at Dell Publishing and founded his own company (then, a book packager) in 1967. He served on the boards of the Goddard-Riverside Community Center and Prep-for-Prep, was chairman of the Board of Governors of Yale University Press, and was a member of the Publishing Committee of the UJA-Federation of New York.

Workman was also a strong supporter of the Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League, the New York Philharmonic, The New York Opera, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He established the David Workman Grant Program at Deerfield Academy in honor of his deceased brother.

The Workman Publishing blog announced the news Sunday and praised Workman as being “an extraordinary man” as well as “a visionary, an inspirational leader, and true friend,” who will be deeply missed.

Workman is survived by his wife of 51 years, Carolan, daughters Katie and Elizabeth, sons-in-law Gary Freilich and Mark Williams, and grandchildren Jack, Charlie, Madeline, and Charlotte. Workman’s wife and daughter Katie have assumed direction of Workman Publishing’s operations with the help of a management team.