Cancer Claims Summit Founder William Reilly

William F. Reilly, 70, founder of Summit Business Media, passed away on Friday, October 17, after a year-long battle with cancer.

Reilly enjoyed a long and fruitful career in business media. In one of the first private-equity backed ventures in media, backed by the firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts ("KKR"), Reilly guided PRIMEDIA's inception, launch, and growth from zero to a $1.7 billion company in both consumer and B2B media over a 10-year period. After leaving PRIMEDIA in 1999, he acquired the Cincinnati-based company F&W, subsequently acquired Krause, then sold this special-interest consumer magazine and education company in 2005.

In 2006, as chairman and CEO, Reilly founded Summit Business Media, with the backing of Wind Point Partners in Chicago, and subsequently acquired the platform companies Highline Media and Pfingsten Publishing. Since that time the company also has acquired Judy Diamond Associates, Agent Media, Wicks Business Media, AUS Online and Wiesner Financial Media. Summit Business Media is the parent of the National Underwriter Co. and Tech Decisions magazine.

Reilly is a member of the board of directors of Barnes & Noble, FMC, Channel 13, and Harvard Business School Press. He also is a trustee at his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame. In addition to his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame, Reilly received an MBA from Harvard Business School.