Peter Brebach: In Remembrance

AIIS, Falls Church, VA. June 1, 2017 It is with a heavy heart that we advise the passing of one of The Institute’s founding members, Mr. Peter Brebach. Peter was a consummate man of steel and passionate in his dedication to our business. His energy and well informed perspectives will be missed.

Peter Brebach graduated from Staedtische Handelsschule in Hamm, Germany, in 1957. He then began an apprenticeship at a Thyssen-owned steel wire producer. He served in Bundeswehr (the German Military) in 1961 and 1962.

Mr. Brebach moved to Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1963 to work in steel trading. One of his employers included Krupp Stahlexport, who offered him a job in Houston in 1972. Mr. Brebach then worked in Texas for 20 years in steel distribution and steel trading. His employers included Duferco and Delta Steel. He moved to Chicago in 1993 to run Finnsteel, the US sales arm for the Rautaruukki Steel Co in Finland.
Mr. Brebach moved to Colorado in 2001 to start Iron Angels of Colorado, a sales agency covering most carbon steel products, including pipe and tubing, bars, structurals, plate and coil.

Mr. Brebach served on the board of the Texas Association of Steel Importers (and as President in 1978 and 1990/91), as well as on the board of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) since its inception.

SMU Note from John Packard, President, CEO and Publisher of Steel Market Update:

I met Peter Brebach at a steel conference in Chicago when we happened to sit next to one another at a dinner for all of the conference attendees. We had a conversation about the industry and, at that time, Peter was unaware of what Steel Market Update was and how it could benefit him and his business. He told me at that dinner that he read one particular publication (that sponsored the conference) and he certainly did not see the need to add another. I offered to send him SMU for free for a couple of months and before the trial expired he became not only a new subscriber but we developed a friendship and collaborated on the beginning of the SMU Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop.

Peter was passionate about the steel business, free trade and the power of learning. He wrote articles and opinion pieces in Steel Market Update. He was an early instructor for the first few Steel 101 workshops we ever conducted.

He was strong-willed and when struck by cancer early in our relationship he showed that he was both a fighter and an optimist.

He loved his family and his friends as well as the steel industry as a whole. He will be missed by all three…