Peter A. Kreisky

Peter Allen Kreisky, 80, of 255 High Road, passed away peacefully in his home with his family present after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

He leaves his wife of 43 Years, Denise A. Grenier and two sons: Jonathan D. Kreisky of Seattle, WA and Maximilian D. Kreisky of Allston, MA. He was born in Bournemouth, England, son of Frederick and Gertrude (Brandeis) who had fled to the UK from Czechoslovakia and Austria. He grew up in his family restaurant and would cherish good food and good company throughout his life. As a young man, his first job was driving an ice cream truck. He attended Cambridge University at Downing College and earned a BA in Mechanical Sciences and MA in Law. After university, he worked for Bass Charrington Ltd. before coming to the United States to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business.

After Stanford, he moved to New York City where he began a distinguished career as a management consultant and media strategist for the publishing industry. Over the years he worked for McKinsey, CBS, Mercer Management Consulting, Boston Consulting Group, and Time Inc. He also founded several companies including Thought Leaders/Axon Inc, New Portal Media, and the Kreisky Media Consultancy. In much of his career, Peter focused on guiding traditional media companies into the digital age.

Peter taught and lectured for many years at the Yale Publishing and Digital Media Program, as well as for the Stanford Publishing Program. He was also a Senior Advisor for the New England Journal of Medicine.

Peter and Denise fell in love with Newburyport and bought a home on Plum Island over 20 years ago. Peter found joy in sailing, kayaking, and photographing wildlife at the Parker River Reserve. He shared his photos with the NAA Photography interest Group, where he won an award for his pictures. On Friday nights, Peter could often be found at the Plum Island Grill, watching the sunset with his dear friends.

Peter will be sorely missed.

Peter’s family has asked that any donation be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.