Ed Polivka, former vice president of education for PCMA, died of a heart attack May 30, according to the association.
Polivka, who was a director at the Hotel College at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was the first vice president of education for PCMA and was instrumental in developing the association’s educational programming.
“Obviously his untimely death comes as a profound shock to all who knew him and a terrible loss to the field of education in the meetings and convention industry,” said Roy B. Evans, CAE, PCMA’s former president and CEO, who hired Polivka as the association’s vice president of education. “Ed was my education mentor, a consummate teacher and a tireless worker. He created PCMA’s college curricula and established it in scores of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Ed was certainly instrumental in making PCMA the premier organization in our industry. My heart goes out to Ed's wife, Kay, and his children. He will be sorely missed.”
