Richard Marek
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Richard Marek (June 14, 1933 – March 22, 2020) was an American writer, editor, and publisher who is best known for his novel ''Works of Genius'' that explores the odd relationships between authors and publishers in the publishing industry.


Life

Marek was born June 14, 1933, in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to Muriel and music executive and author of classical composer biographies
George Richard Marek George Richard Marek (13 July 1902 – 7 January 1987) was an Austrian-born American music executive and author of biographies of classical composers. Marek was born in Vienna, then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of dentist M ...
. He earned his
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
at
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
in 1955 and his
M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1956. In college, Marek was a member of the
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
honor society. Marek married Margot Lynn Ravage in 1954. The couple had two children before Marek's wife died in 1987. Marek served in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
from 1956 to 1957. During that time he was stationed in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.


Career

Marek's career in the publishing business began with his positions as an editor at
McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...
magazine and his work at
Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...
publishing starting in 1962. In 1968, he signed the "
Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...
" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. Over the course of his career, Marek was also employed at companies like
World Publishing The World Publishing Company was an American publishing company. The company published genre fiction, trade paperbacks, children's literature, nonfiction books, textbooks, Bibles, and dictionaries,Dial Press The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...
. Marek ran his own publishing imprint, Richard Marek Books, at
Putnam Publishing Group G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...
from 1977 to 1981. In 1985, Marek began serving as the president of
E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American Publishing, book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton ( ...
. As Marek remarked in an online profile, he has been responsible for editing "well over 300 books". Marek's first major piece of writing, ''Works of Genius'' (1987), was a novel that dealt with the inner workings of the publishing industry. The novel received praise from several major publications such as ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and '' The Los Angeles Times Book Review''. Marek's second writing, ''Here is my Hope: A Book of Healing and Prayer: Inspirational Stories of the Johns Hopkins Hospital'', was co-written with Randi Henderson and was published in 2001. He died of
esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voice ...
on March 25, 2020, at the age of 86.


References


External links


Richard Marek at the Biography Resource Center


at
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...


at the Independent Editors Group
Periodical Entries About Richard Marek from the Biography Reference Bank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marek, Richard 1933 births 2020 deaths American businesspeople American tax resisters Writers from New York City Deaths from esophageal cancer