Doug Blough, longtime director of communications for nonfoods and health and wellness trade group Global Market Development Center, passed away March 22 at the age of 58 in Colorado Springs following a battle against pancreatic cancer.

“Doug made huge contributions to GMDC and its success over the years, and he’ll be missed by all of us privileged to have worked with him,” says GMDC c.e.o. Dave McConnell. “He fought against this insidious disease and to the very end maintained the sense of dignity, kindness, and caring for others that were at the core of who he was and how he’ll be remembered by all of us who were privileged to have known him.”

Blough represented GMDC as an outside consultant for more than two decades providing visual communications services until he joined the staff management team in December 1999. His tenure as a GMDC employee continued until late 2005 when he retired to spend more time with his wife Linda and pursue his passion for fine-art digital imagery.

Even after his retirement, his passion for the industry couldn’t keep him away, and he continued to manage GMDC’s creative and communication activities as an outside contractor, and also served as the association’s liaison interfacing with the trade press and managing its public relations programs.

An avid outdoorsman, Steeler fan, and golfer, he reserved his greatest passion for his wife Linda, two children, Justin and Amanda, and his two grandchildren.