Adrian Driscoll, publisher and co-founder of Aimer Media, has died, the Bookseller reported. He was 63. The Independent Publishing Guild described Driscoll as "a visionary who foresaw the power of technology to make previously unachievable ideas possible. Being technically minded, he recognized the potential for apps before most, when Apple launched its iPhone and App Store in 2007 and 2008."
After acting as commissioning editor for philosophy at Routledge, Driscoll "began to create app-based products," the Bookseller wrote. "This was when Aimer Education, founded by Andy Parle, gave birth to Aimer Media, creating more than 100 app products for publishers: from Samuel Pepys's Diary to Pevsner's Architectural Glossary to Decisions on the Rules of Golf to a raft of apps for the Church of England."
Class Professional, IPG's medical imprint, founded Aimer Media after Driscoll gave a talk on the potential of app technology in publishing and education at an IPG conference: "Adrian was fiercely proud of being independent, but when his health began to deteriorate, he took the view that his partners and employees should seek a supportive long-term home at Class Professional. The team has grown and developed while keeping that independent flame alight, and it continues to produce the innovative technology for which it is celebrated. We will all miss his original and creative mind, great intelligence, independent spirit and attractive personality."