Grand Central associate publisher for the past decade Les Pockell, 68, died at home on Monday. Publisher Jamie Raab tells the AP “she liked to call him ‘The Professor’ because Pockell knew so much about so many subjects and would become visibly animated in discussion. ‘He was the smartest person we knew.'” His former boss Larry Kirshbaum “remembered Pockell as a thinking man who stood out at a relatively commercial publishing house. He was also regarded as a mentor with a great deal to teach and a willingness to let others take the credit.”
AP