Tim Novoselski, former owner of RER magazine and founder of Special Events magazine and others, died at the age of 62 at his home in McCall, Idaho, after a long bout with cancer.
Novoselski graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in journalism in the early 1970s and came to work for RER, then owned by his father-in-law James Gartland, shortly thereafter (Gartland founded RER in 1957). He and his wife Denise moved to McCall, Idaho, in the mid-70s, and took over the McCall Star-News, which the couple ran until 1979 when they returned to Los Angeles to work for Gartland’s company, Miramar Publishing, with Novoselski taking the reins as editor of RER. When Gartland died in 1980, the Novoselskis took over the management of Miramar.
Soon hiring others to edit RER, Novoselski remained publisher of the magazine and continued to be active in the rental industry, including leading an ongoing group of rental company owners called the GORB (good old rental boys) group, which held annual retreats to discuss rental company ownership issues. Novoselski remained close friends with many rental people and suppliers to the industry and maintained many of those relationships until the time of his death.
“I have known Tim Novoselski since 1982, when I became president of HERC,” said former Hertz Equipment Rental Corp. president and now rental industry consultant Dan Kaplan. “For the next two decades Tim and RER was the voice and most respected publication of the rental industry. Tim, whom everyone loved and respected — especially me — was a true pioneer in the rental industry. In 1987 Tim put me on the cover of RER; Tim and Denise visited HERC offices in Parsippany to write the story. Denise was a major force on her own as the publisher of Special Events Magazine, as well as a supporter of Tim. In today's rental industry, most people did not have the honor to know and work with Tim. In many ways, Tim was an integral part of the rental industry; there will never be another Tim. The rental industry and I lost a great friend and a great human being.”
Novoselski was known for mentoring younger journalists, providing opportunities for many just starting out in the industry to work at Miramar’s publications.
“Today I found out about the passing of my friend and mentor Tim Novoselski,” said former RER editor Chris Fletcher. “Tim did more than anyone to help shape my professional life and took a raw kid and turned him into a professional journalist. My best to Deni and his family. He was an inspiration to all of us who cut our teeth at Miramar Publishing. He will be missed.”
RER remained Miramar’s flagship publication. The Novoselskis also founded HomeCare, which covered the home healthcare industry, and in 1982 launched Special Events, which covered the burgeoning party and catering side of the rental business. Both RER and Special Events are still operating, currently owned by Penton. The Novoselskis also started The Special Event tradeshow, the first party and catering industry tradeshow, also currently owned by Penton.
In 1995, the California Rental Association presented Novoselski with the James Gartland Award, named after RER founder Gartland, for contributions to the rental industry.
The Novoselskis sold Miramar and its publications to Intertec, a division of Primedia Business Media, in late 1998. However, shortly thereafter Novoselski returned to the rental industry as a founding investor of SmartEquip, which provides maintenance, repair, operations, customer relationship management, and service-embedded e-commerce support for fleet owners and manufacturers. Novoselski leveraged his relationships with manufacturers and rental company owners to help introduce SmartEquip’s concepts to the rental market. For a period of time, Novoselski served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for SmartEquip.
Novoselski served on many boards and committees over the years, including serving as president of the Western Publications Association, based in Los Angeles, and was board member of Business Publications Audit Worldwide. In later years, after retiring to McCall, he was a member of the board of directors of the McCall-Donnelly Education Foundation.
Novoselski is survived by his wife Denise, his sister Jo, nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, Denise Novoselski would like donations made to Tim’s favorite charities, in this order: McCall-Donnelly Education Foundation (mdef.org/donate); St. Luke’s McCall Foundation Cancer Patient Support Fund, 1000 State Street, McCall, ID 83638; and McPaws Animal Shelter, mcpaws.org.
Read RER editor Michael Roth’s blog about Tim Novoselski: http://rermag.com/blog/dog-fridays-and-memories-tim-0 as well as Special Events’ rememberance: http://specialevents.com/archive/special-events-mourns-loss-co-founder-tim-novoselski.
