Distributor Artie Bach dies
By Wendy Wilson -- Video Business, 1/4/2008
JAN. 4 | Video pioneer Arthur Bach died Dec. 10 at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York City from complications following cancer surgery. He was 78.
Bach
A Video Hall of Fame inductee in 1993, Bach was co-founder of distributor Star Video. He launched the company in 1979 with business partner Bernie Herman and, over the next 18 years, helped steer Star to $300 million in annual net sales.
As the distribution side of the business consolidated into the ’90s, Star secured a considerable niche in sell-through, serving as rackjobber to Toys R Us. When Bach and Herman finally sold Star in 1997, the company had seven locations that served retail accounts from the Eastern seaboard and into the Midwest.
“Artie was small in size but he was a bigger-than-life kind of guy,” Herman remembered. “You always knew it when Artie entered the room. What I liked to kid about was that he could yell louder than anyone but had a heart of gold. He was a dynamic leader of our business, in the industry.”
Bach is survived by Judy, his wife of 56 years, and their three children, Hugh, Pamela and Sherry, as well as grandchildren Max, Zoey, Bryan, Spencer and Gabe.
