Hidenet Founder and CEO Don Ohsman passed away 31 January, surrounded by loved ones, from complications of a rare form of blood cancer, multiple myeloma. He was 78 years old.

His Career

Donald Dean Ohsman, born 22 March 1940, grew up in the family hide and fur business, Ohsman and Sons, actively joining the firm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after earning his Bachelors degree at University of Denver and serving in the army in the early 1960s. He later formed his own hide trading business, Trans World Hide Corporation in 1979, which developed agencies and customers around the globe. It was at that time he began writing widely respected weekly hide reports with which he generated a considerable distribution over time.

In 1997 he sold Trans World Hide Corporation to Seton Leather as a raw materials procurement arm of the automobile leather concern. About the same time, he changed the name of his market report business to Hidenet.com and created new weekly reports covering other principal hide regions around the world.

Eventually, he left Seton to focus on Hidenet, which now flourishes as one of the most respected worldwide daily and weekly publications in the industry. The business will carry on Don’s legacy in the capable hands of new editor-in-chief Vera Dordick and her team of expert global editors and reporters.

Don was known as one of the most effervescent and enthusiastic personalities in the hide and leather trade. His love for people and tremendous sense of humor were trademarks of his success. He possessed tremendous energy and considered the many industry associates with whom he dealt to be true friends, transcending their mutual business activities.

His Personal Life

The only thing that Don loved more than his association with the hide and leather industry was his family and his many close friends. Don had two wonderful marriages. He married Rene (nee Segal) in 1963 and the two of them raised two children, Marni and Scott, whom they both adored. Sadly, Rene died of cancer in 2008.

Don was blessed again to fall in love with Georgann Teeman Ohsman. The two got married in Phoenix, Arizona in 2010 and have been inseparable ever since. Georgann also has a loving daughter, Paige Kline, from her prior marriage.

Don will be remembered for his incredible zest for life, his unceasing curiosity for the lives of others and his eternally optimistic spirit that was infectious to all who knew him. He will be sorely missed by his many friends and dear relatives.

Funeral services are to be held at the Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Phoenix, AZ, at 2 pm Monday 4 February. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to:

Jeffrey Modell Foundation
780 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
or online at www.info4pi.org/hq/donate.