Former Bantam Books editorial director Marc Jaffe, 102, died on December 31. Early in his career, Jaffe was western & mystery editor at New American Library, publishing Gore Vidal and Mickey Spillane. Jaffe became editorial director at Bantam in 1961 and stayed for 19 years as the imprint became a force in paperback publishing, including William Peter Blatty’s THE EXORCIST. He later became vp at Random House and editorial director at Ballantine, and founded Villard Books, then founded an eponymous imprint at Houghton Mifflin. Later, Jaffe started Editorial Direction with his wife, Vivienne, and worked as a freelance editor and consultant until his death.
Former Knopf associate publicity director Michelle Somers, 50, died on August 24, 2023, with the news only learned recently by colleagues. She had type 1 diabetes. Somers worked at Knopf for more than 13 years, until 2014, working with authors including Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and Toni Morrison.