Obits

Former marketing and publicity specialist John Hitchin, 88, who spent three decades at Penguin Books, has died.

Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Jerry Pinkney, 81, died on Wednesday of a brief non-Covid related illness. He was the illustrator of more than 100 books and received a Caldecott Honor five times, as well as the Caldecott Medal in 2010 for The Lion and the Mouse. “Jerry’s indefatigable attention to, and love of his craft was unmatched, and he never stopped asking for his work to be pushed and challenged,” said Megan Tingley, executive vice president and publisher at his publisher, Little Brown Children’s. “Everyone he worked with was touched by his infectious delight in the act of creation, which never […]

Three-time Newbery Honor–⁠winning author of Hatchet, Gary Paulsen died suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 82. Inspired by a sense of adventure, including two Iditarod runs, he was the author of more than 200 books, which have sold more than 35 million copies. Farrar Straus Children’s will publish his final novel, Northwind, in January. “Gary was a legitimately good dude,” Macmillan Children’s vp, executive director of publicity Molly Ellis said. “In addition to being a world-class storyteller and adventurer, he was also an incredibly thoughtful and gracious person, and we all felt so lucky to work with him.” Evelyn […]

Diane Lomonaco, 67, former associate director, production, for Putnam, died on October 4 of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over the course of her career, she also held positions at Simon & Schuster, and Betty Crocker. Penguin Random House writes, “Diane was the ultimate professional, extraordinarily knowledgeable about all facets of bookmaking, and deeply caring of her colleagues and authors. She was a warm and devoted friend, sister, and aunt with a sharp and dry sense of humor who always found the right words to cheer and console. With a love for books and poetry, Diane brought her fondness for theatre […]

Philip Spitzer, 82, founder of the eponymous literary agency, died on October 5 in Southampton, NY. His clients included James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Alafair Burke, Andre Dubus, Andre Dubus III, Ken Bruen, Simon Van Booy, among many others. Spitzer began his career as an editorial assistant at NYU Press and got his starting in agenting in the 1960s, when he worked for John Cushman Associates, then the American affiliate of Curtis, Brown, London. In 1969 he formed the Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency, representing a broad range of fiction and nonfiction writers, as well more than a dozen French […]

Former longtime Bantam Doubleday Dell salesman John Ziccardi died on Monday at 78. He worked in sales at Bantam for 30 years until 1998. Penguin Random House said, “John, in the opinion of one of his knowing contemporaries, was one of the greatest one-on-one salespeople trade publishing has ever known. A kid from Queens, who rose from a field rep to run the entire Bantam and then BDD national-accounts sales group, John was always out there, with his charismatic blend of title and account knowledge, charm, warmth, and sincere other-directedness. And he always got the title order he asked for.” […]