Peter H. Neumann

Peter H. Neumann, a former international educational publishing executive and beloved husband of 41 years of Maureen Cunningham Neumann, passed away March 19, 2016. In addition to his wife he leaves three children from a previous marriage: Erika B. Taylor of Union, ME, Daphne M. Neumann Hurley of Vancouver, BC, Canada, and Peter F. Neumann of Lincolnville Beach, ME, and four grandchildren: Caroline R. Bath and husband, Chris Bath, of Vancouver, BC, Peter Eliol Hurley of Vancouver, BC, and Olivia F. Neumann and Julia L. Neumann of Lincolnville Beach, ME. He was predeceased by his sister, Ruth Beate Neumann, and his half-sister, Else Neumann.

Born in Berlin, Germany in 1920 to Gertrud Landecker Neumann and Hans Erich Neumann, a noted film director and producer, Mr. Neumann was trained in the printing trade before leaving Germany as a young political refugee on his 21st birthday. He fled to Shanghai, China, as World War II broke out in Europe to join his mother and step-father who had left Germany a couple of years earlier. He managed to leave Germany via the Trans-Siberian railroad to Manchuria and then by ship to Shanghai on the last train allowed to leave before the border closed. Mr. Neumann remained in Shanghai nine years serving as foreman of the second largest printing plant there and eventually running a small book enterprise exporting Chinese art books to universities around the world.

Upon arriving in the United States in 1950 Mr. Neumann joined the UNESCO Technical Assistance Program , where in Indonesia he helped to establish textbook publishing and production facilities, and in Burma he worked with U Thant, one time Secretary General of the UN, to develop book production for the Burma Translation Society.

Recruited by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company to establish an international textbook publishing group, Mr. Neumann returned to the United States a few years later and established a group that published school and college textbooks in English for the world market in addition to translations of such texts in several languages. In doing so he established textbook publishing companies in the U.K., France, Latin America and Australia. Throughout his publishing years Mr. Neumann often said one of his greatest accomplishments was the training of bright young aspirants to be editorial and sales managers, entrepreneurs who eventually started their own publishing ventures around the globe. In his later publishing years Mr. Neumann consulted for the World Bank (Agency for International Development) in the Philippines, Latin America and China.

Sailing, which he learned as an adult, became one of his passions, and he and his wife sailed the East Coast from Long Island Sound to Roque Island, ME, for weeks at a time. A long time member of the Boston Yacht Club, he served as Fleet Captain, Cruise Chairman, Social Committee Chair and a member of the Board of Trustees. He was also passionate about the theater and proudly served as the President of the Lyric Stage Company of Boston for several years. A vocal political activist, Mr. Neumann was a lifelong member of the Marblehead Democratic Town Committee.

Funeral services will be private and a Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Those who wish to remember Mr. Neumann may make a memorial contribution in his name to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104. Arrangements by Eustis and Cornell of Marblehead.