Martin B. Deutsch, the founding managing editor of Travel Weekly and the founder of TravelAge West has died, according to TravelAge West. He was 91.
Deutsch's travel career began in 1955 as associate editor of Caribbean-Latin American Travel Courier, a monthly trade magazine that evolved to become Travel Weekly in October 1958. He served as the first managing editor of Travel Weekly for nearly 10 years, until he joined Official Airline Guides Travel Magazines in 1967 and became the founding managing editor of a new regional trade publication called TravelAge East.
In 1969 he introduced TravelAge West, followed by TravelAge MidAmerica in 1974. TravelAge West is today a sister publication to Travel Weekly.
Deutsch's career touched all aspects of the media business. He launched Travel Management Daily, the TravelAge tradeshows and OAG Frequent Flyer Magazine. He served as a consultant for Travel Agent magazine, as well as the Home Based Travel Show, which was acquired by Northstar Travel Group and later became CruiseWorld. Since 2002, Deutsch has also been the co-owner of and columnist for JoeSentMe.com, a business travel newsletter.
"Martin Deutsch was a pioneer in the travel trades," said Bob Sullivan, president of Northstar Travel Group's Travel Group, the division that includes Travel Weekly and TravelAge West. "His passion and commitment in delivering unique highly valued content to the travel industry fostered a unique relationship with its readers.
"Martin's imprint can still be felt today in the content of TravelAge West, and the brand continues to thrive with Martin's spirit of delivering valuable content and information to its very loyal readers," he added.
Deutsch is survived by his wife, Denise, his son Kenneth and his daughter Ariel.