Peter Francis Storer, cable television executive, dies at 81 in Saratoga, Wyo.

Cable TV executive Peter Storer dies in Wyo. at 81

SARATOGA, Wyo. — Radio, television and cable industry leader and prominent philanthropist Peter Francis Storer has died. He was 81.

Storer died Sunday at his home in Saratoga, his daughter, Elizabeth Storer, said Tuesday.

Peter Storer was chief executive officer of Storer Communications, the nation’s fourth-largest multiple system cable operator with stock valued at $2 billion at the time of its sale in 1986.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Storer was the third of four sons of Mary Perley and George B. Storer.

He graduated in 1951 from the University of Miami and began his career in broadcasting at WJBK-TV in Detroit, a Storer Broadcasting Company television station owned by his father. He also worked for CBS Radio but returned to the family business as sales manager at WJW-TV in Cleveland.

Storer later became general manager of WSPD (now WTVG) in Toledo. In 1960, he opened one of the first national television representative firms, Storer TV Sales, in New York City.

Seven years later, Storer became executive vice president of Miami-based Storer Broadcasting. He became CEO following his father’s death in 1975 and renamed the company Storer Communications.

He remained chief executive officer until the company was bought out in 1986.

Storer was a founding member of the Wyoming Community Foundation and the Wyoming chapter of The Nature Conservancy. He also helped establish the Wyoming Water Project at Trout Unlimited and served on Trout Unlimited’s national board.

His survivors include two brothers and four children. He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia, and a brother.

A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga.