Frank Pearl, founder and chairman of the board for Perseus Book Group, died May 4. He was 68. Pearl founded Perseus in 1995; today the business has grown to more than 330 clients and is the digital distributor for more than 20,000 books from over 250 independent publishers.
Pearl was involved for over 25 years in growth equity and buyout transactions in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, with an investment focus in energy; environmental and engineering technologies; health care and life sciences; and publishing. He was a supporter of, and adviser to, many charitable and nonprofit organizations, as well as chairman of the Jennie Zoline Foundation, a private foundation he established in 1987 to be operated for scientific, literary, and educational purposes. Pearl also served as a member of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Rockefeller University.
John Schwieters, a longtime colleague of Pearl’s, who has worked with Perseus for many years and has served on its board of directors, is succeeding Pearl as chairman.
