Two Editors Who Showed What Publishing Should Be

Amid the many controversies that have occurred in American book publishing, I still measure the industry by the people who showed me what it could be at its best. For the better part of my 30-plus years as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf, I sat in an office next to Sonny Mehta, the former head of our company. He hired me, and over time we became great friends. When I spoke at his memorial at the New York Public Library in February 2020—he died on December 30, 2019—I said I was not yet reconciled to his death. I probably never will be.

For many years, Dan Frank sat on the opposite side of Sonny’s office. Dan was the editorial director of Pantheon, one of the imprints that Sonny supervised, but had edited many Knopf books—his authors over the years included Oliver Sacks, Cormac McCarthy, Cynthia Ozick, Jill Lepore, and James Gleick. Dan, too, was special. He died on May 24.

When I received that news, I thought of a remark the literary critic John Leonard had made about the death of someone dear to him: “I’m at a point in life where I can’t afford to lose another friend.” (When Leonard wrote this, he and his friend were both in their 40s. I can barely remember my 40s.)

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