Dick Bestany, co-founder of Best-Met Publishing and former president of Food World and Food Trade News passed away at the age of 83 at his home in Ellicott City, MD on May 22.
Born in Fitchburg, MA, Bestany spent much of his childhood in nearby Westminster, MA before attending high school in the Boston suburb of Winchester. He graduated from Winchester High School in 1957 and attended Boston University’s School of Public Relations and Communication (now College of Communication), graduating in 1961.
During his college years, Bestany served as an intern for Boston-based The Gillette Co. and after graduating he joined the company on a full-time basis, ultimately serving as the editor of Gillette’s in-house newsletter, The Blade.
He left Gillette in 1969 to join Boston television station WSBK (Channel 38) to gain more experience in sales. A year later, he moved to become advertising manager of the The Griffin Report, the regional trade paper that covered the food industry in New England. Within a year, he was promoted to VP-advertising for the company, delivering record ad revenue for the Boston-based trade newspaper.
In May 1978, Bestany and Jeff Metzger, who was serving as editor of The Griffin Report, had an opportunity to acquire a struggling food trade newspaper, Food World, in the Baltimore-Washington area. Using some of the knowledge they gained from their years in Boston, they radically changed the style (and perception) of Food World, which became profitable in its first year of business.
Later in 1978, they received a phone call from the owner of another regional food industry trade paper, Food Trade News, which was based in Philadelphia. Irv Borowsky said that he’d like to sell his only newspaper (the rest of his properties were glossy magazines) and that after studying what we’d accomplished with Food World, he’d like to sell Food Trade News to Bestany and Metzger.
“Irv, we’re flattered,” Bestany said, “but we just paid off our first loan and we need to take a breather for a while.” Borowsky wouldn’t take no for an answer and personally arranged financing for the deal through his bank.
For the next 29 years, Bestany and Metzger remained partners and friends and helped grow the business by adding a foodservice publication (Mid-Atlantic Foodservice News), an advertising and price verification service (Food World Information Services) and an annual industry reference book (Grocery Industry Directory) which began publishing in 1995.
Bestany retired in 2007 and became Chairman Emeritus of the company.
“There was nobody I’ve ever met after 50 years covering the food industry who enjoyed the business more than Dick,” said Metzger. “Business and entertainment were seamlessly woven together. But when it came time to ask for the order, Dick was a master. People genuinely enjoyed him as a person and his role as a key information cog in the business also gave him tremendous credibility.”
Dick Bestany leaves his wife of 59 years Kathy; daughter Cyndi and son Rick as well as three grandchildren.