Co-founder and president of Abbeville Press, Robert E. Abrams, 80, died on August 28. He created Abbeville in 1977 along with his late father, Harry N. Abrams. “Publishing,” Bob wrote, “is about deciding what content, ‘speech,’ is sufficiently meaningful to try to bring it to the attention of others. It is about trying to diminish ignorance and share the grace of human consciousness.”
The company notes, “He had a profound sense of the significance, and the responsibility, of the publisher’s vocation…. Colleagues and friends alike can attest that stepping into Bob’s office was stepping into a lively, sometimes hours-long conversation about more than art—politics, economics, current affairs, history, society, and culture were invariably part of the dialogue.”
There will be a celebration of his life on Friday, October 6, at 10:00 a.m. at Central Synagogue, 652 Lexington Avenue, New York City.
Company obituary
Translator Edith Grossman, 87, died on August 28 in Manhattan of pancreatic cancer. She translated acclaimed editions of Love in the Time of Cholera and Don Quixote.
Sarah Young, the author of Jesus Calling, which sold more than 45 million copies, has died at 77.