Alfred Abraham Knopf Jr. (June 17, 1918 – February 14, 2009) was an American publisher. He was one of the founders of

Atheneum Publishers Atheneum Books was a New York City publishing house established in 1959 by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn. Simon & Schuster has owned Atheneum properties since its acquisition of Macmillan in 1994 and it created Athen ...

in 1959.

Biography

He was the only child of publisher

Alfred A. Knopf Sr. Alfred Abraham Knopf Sr. (September 12, 1892 August 11, 1984) was an American publisher of the 20th century, and co-founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and (of the previous ...

and Blanche Wolf. He was born in

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

, on June 17, 1918, and as a child was given the nickname "Pat". His parents founded the book company

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

in 1915. In 1921, Knopf attended the Birch Wathen School while his parents were in Europe. At the age of seven, in 1925, he was sent to a boarding school, first at the

Riverdale Country School Riverdale Country School is a co-educational, independent, college-preparatory day school in New York City serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is located on two campuses covering more than in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, Ne ...

, in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

. From 1933 until 1937 he attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

and attended

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

for three years. The summer after he graduated from Exeter he ran away from home, despondent over being turned down by

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. Following a police search, he was found in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, t ...

. During World War II, Knopf joined the Army Air Force and served in the 446th Bomb Group of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. During his time in the service, he piloted the B-24 Bomber "Rough Buddy" through almost 100 missions alongside engineer Richard E. Morton. He became a captain. In 1952, he married Alice Laine. They had three children, Alison Knopf Insinger, Susan Knopf, and David A. Knopf. He was one of the founders of

in 1959. He died on February 14, 2009, from complications following a fall.

References

1918 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews American book publishers (people) American people of Polish-Jewish descent Birch Wathen Lenox School alumni Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Riverdale Country School alumni Knopf family United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II Union College (New York) alumni {{Publish-bio-stub