Obits

Hervé de La Martinière, 78, founder of Abrams’s parent company Les Éditions de La Martinière, died on May 8. He began his publishing career at Hachette group at the age of 25, and went on to work at Grasset, Fayard, Chêne, and Nathan, before creating art and illustrated book publisher Les Éditions de La Martinière. The company acquired Abrams in 1997.

Thriller writer Andrew Gross, 72, died on April 9 at his home in Purchase, NY of a rare form of cancer. He was the author of the Ty Hauck series, plus novels including: Eyes Wide Open, 15 Seconds, No Way Back, and more. He also co-authored books with James Patterson. Before he became a novelist in his 40s, Gross was senior corporate vice president of his family’s successful apparel company, Leslie Fay Inc.

Literary agent Esmond Harmsworth, 57, died on April 9 of natural causes while on vacation with his family in Mauritius. He founded the literary agency Zachary Shuster Harmsworth in 1997 with Lane Zachary and Todd Shuster. ZSH merged with Kuhn Projects in 2016 to form Aevitas Creative Management. As president at Aevitas, Harmsworth represented authors including Keith McFarland, Amanda Ripley, Hester Young, and Michelle Hoover. “Esmond was a consummate intellectual, a widely beloved representative of scores of authors from across the world, and an absolutely irrepressible bon vivant,” Shuster said. “Through his work as a literary agent, philanthropist, and advocate, […]

Scott Miller, executive vice president and literary agent at Trident Media Group, died on April 23 of cancer. Miller represented clients including Mark Greaney, W. Bruce Cameron,  Joel C. Rosenberg, Harry Shearer, and Pam Grier. Al Bertrand, director of Georgetown University Press, died on April 20. He joined Georgetown University Press in 2018, after roles at Princeton University Press and John Wiley & Sons in Oxford.  

Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, 89, who won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature, died on Sunday in Lima. His first novel, The Time of the Hero, was published in 1963. Other works include Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The War of the End of the World, and more. He ran for president of Peru in 1990.

Lerner Publishing Group founder and chair Harry Lerner, 93, died on April 8. Lerner began his publishing career as a GI in Germany when when he published a guidebook for fellow servicemen. In 1959 he began publishing children’s books and launched the company’s first imprint, Carolrhoda Books, with his first wife, Sharon Lerner, in 1969. He ran the company until 1998, when his son Adam Lerner took over.