Peter Jovanovich, one of publishing’s true gentlemen, died on July 15 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He was 75. Son of the irascible William Jovanovich, who built the onetime publishing powerhouse Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Peter carved his own place in the book world, leading several of the country’s largest educational publishers.

Jovanovich began his career as a textbook salesman at Macmillan in 1972 before moving to HBJ, where he started as director of the trade division and was later named head of the college and professional group in 1984. During much of Jovanovich’s career, educational publishers drew the attention of outside investors because of their relatively good operating margins—which was precisely the case at HBJ.

In 1987, the company fended off a hostile takeover attempt by British publisher Robert Maxwell, with Jovanovich named CEO in the aftermath, in 1989. Two years later, Jovanovich was unable to prevent General Cinema, which owned movie theaters and such retailers as Nieman Marcus, from acquiring the company. Shortly after the acquisition, General Cinema renamed the house Harcourt General, dropping the “Jovanovich” from its name.

After the General Cinema takeover, Jovanovich left the company, and was eventually appointed head of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. As the educational publishing merger frenzy continued, he was appointed president of the McGraw-Hill educational and professional publishing group. In 1997, Jovanovich moved to Pearson, where he helped shape the company into the country’s largest educational publisher, with sales close to $3 billion in 1998. That year, he was named CEO of the educational group by parent company Pearson.

During his career, Jovanovich was active in a number of organizations, including the Association of American Publishers, where he served as chair from 1998-2000. In 2007, he was elected to the Educational Publishers Hall of Fame.

Jovanovich’s career was derailed in 2003 when he was diagnosed with obliterative bronchiolitis, for which he received a doubled lung transplant in 2004. He took an extended leave of absence from Pearson, but returned to work on a part-time basis in May 2004. Asked by PW why he went back, Jovanovich said: “I've been in publishing all my life. It's hard not to publish books." Despite Jovanovich’s efforts, continuing health problems forced him to retire in 2005.

At the AAP annual meeting that year, Jovanovich received the Mary McNulty Award for service to school publishing. During his acceptance speech, Jovanovich recalled that despite his 32-year career, as he was being prepared for surgery, his thoughts were not on “corporate synergy” or “even Len Riggio,” but his wife and family.

A service for Jovanovich will be held July 31 at 11 a.m. at Rye Presbyterian Church in Rye, N.Y.