Carolyn Kroll Reidy (May 2, 1949 – May 12, 2020) was an American business executive who served as president and CEO of the American publishing company

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. While chief executive, Reidy was named the publishing industry's Person of the Year by the trade publication ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' in 2019. In 2018, she was recognized as the

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...

Publisher Honoree.

Early life and education

Carolyn Judith Kroll was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on May 2, 1949, the daughter of Henry August Kroll and his wife, Mildred Josephine (née Mencke), and grew up in nearby

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

. She attended

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

as an undergraduate and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

for graduate studies, where she earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in English in 1982. Her dissertation was titled, ''The reader as character in the High Victorian novel: studies of the reader/writer relationship in Vanity Fair,

the Way We Live Now ''The Way We Live Now'' is a satirical novel by Anthony Trollope, published in London in 1875 after first appearing in serialised form. It is one of the last significant Victorian novels to have been published in monthly parts. The novel is ...

Middlemarch ''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life'' is a novel by the English author Mary Anne Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. It first appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, ...

, and

the Egoist ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. Reidy's doctoral advisor was .

Career

Reidy began her career in publishing in 1974 with

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in the subsidiary rights department, and eventually became associate publisher and publisher of its subdivision,

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

. She went on to be publisher and president of

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...

. In 1992, she joined Simon & Schuster as president of its Trade Division, then in 2001 became president of the Adult Publishing Group. She was made CEO of the entire publishing house in 2008.

Personal life and death

In 1974, she married Stephen Reidy before joining Random House. Carolyn Reidy died of a heart attack in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, NY, on May 12, 2020, aged 71.

References

External links

Simon and Schuster - Carolyn Reidy

2018 Literary Gala: Carolyn Reidy, 2018 PEN America Publisher Honoree
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reidy, Carolyn 1949 births 2020 deaths Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. Indiana University alumni Middlebury College alumni American women chief executives Simon & Schuster 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople People from Silver Spring, Maryland Businesspeople from Maryland