Obits

Author and illustrator of the Olivia series of picture books Ian Falconer, 63, died on Tuesday in Rowayton, CT after a short illness. Olivia won a Caldecott Medal in 2001 and Falconer published seven more books in the series. He also illustrated more than 30 New Yorker covers.

Children’s book author and illustrator Amy Schwartz died suddenly the weekend of February 25. She had a hand in more than 50 children’s books across many imprints, including Charlotte Zolotow Award winner What James Likes Best and New York Times Best Book of the Year Bea and Mr. Jones. Mary Cash, vp and editor in chief at Holiday House said, “I can’t think of anyone whom I think understood and portrayed the day-to-day routines of families with young children with more intelligence and joy. Amy was an acute observer of all the tiny details that together make up a child’s life. Her wonderful books […]

Larry Adamo, 82, who worked for Abrams as a sales rep in the NYC area, died on February 19. The publisher writes: “Larry was beloved and respected for his wit, wisdom, and most of all his passion for our books. He loved illustrated books and art — he was a lifelong painter — and happily passed on his knowledge to subsequent generations of colleagues in sales and other departments at Abrams.”

Renowned editor and publisher John “Jack” Macrae III  has died.  He worked at Henry Holt for 35 years, where he published authors including two-time Booker winner Hilary Mantel and ran an eponymous imprint. Prior to that, he was publisher from 1968 to 1981 at “the family business,” E.P. Dutton, lead for nearly 100 years by Macraes (his grandfather and then his father) following the passing of Dutton himself. Dutton publisher Christine Ball and editor in chief John Parsley, who both worked at Holt in the early 2000s when Macrae ran his imprint there, said “Jack inspired all of us to […]

Carin Goldberg, 69, a graphic designer who designed many famous book covers, died on January 19 of a brain tumor. One of her best-known designs was the cover of a 1986 reissue of Ulysses. The NYT writes that she was “a scholar of designs and typefaces, particularly those of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which she reimagined in elegant and witty combinations on the covers of hundreds of albums and thousands of books.”

Eileen Ahearn, 75, best-known as a former administrator of the James Baldwin Estate, passed away after a short illness on January 6. Ahearn began her career in publishing as a typist at Random House in the early 1970s, alongside the late Carolyn Reidy, with whom she would work and consult over five decades. She served as secretary to Toni Morrison when she was an editor, which turned into a lifelong bond. For the last nearly 30 years of her career, she worked as a consultant with Reidy at Simon & Schuster, retiring in 2020.