Sterling Lord (September 3, 1920 – September 3, 2022) was an American

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

, editor, and author. His clients included

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

Jimmy Breslin James Earle Breslin (October 17, 1928 – March 19, 2017) was an American journalist and author. Until the time of his death, he wrote a column for the New York ''Daily News'' Sunday edition.''Current Biography 1942'', pp. 648–51: "Patterson, ...

, and

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...

Early life and education

Lord was born in

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area, which includes ...

, on September 3, 1920. His father, also named Sterling, was an executive at the Leopold Desk Company in Burlington who also worked as a bookbinder.

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his ...

, a scientist and writer, was his uncle. While in high school, Lord was the school's newspaper editor. He also became a tennis singles champ in 1937 and 1938 and was ranked nationally in both the Boys and Juniors Divisions. In 1976, his book ''Returning The Serve Intelligently'' was included in the United States Tennis Instructional Series published by Doubleday. Lord studied English at

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...

, graduating with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1942.

Career

After graduation, Lord joined the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was an editor for a weekly magazine supplement of '' Stars and Stripes''. The Army discontinued the magazine in 1948, but Lord co-owned it as a private publication for a year afterwards. Lord then moved to New York City and entered the publishing industry. A magazine called ''Weekend'' which he bought with a partner, Evan Jones, failed, and he was fired from ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' magazine. In 1951, he founded his own business, a literary shop in New York City. In 1952, he launched his literary agency, later merging with another agency, Literistic, to form Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Kerouac entrusted him with his novel ''

On the Road ''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonis ...

'', and after more than four years

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

bought and published it. Lord's other noted clients included

with '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', historian

, and political figures like

John Sirica John Joseph Sirica (March 19, 1904 – August 14, 1992) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role in the trials stemming from the Watergate scandal. ...

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...

, and

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

. Open Road published Lord's memoir ''Lord of Publishing'' in 2013. In 2015, the city of Burlington held its first Sterling Lord Writers and Readers Festival to honor him. Five years later, during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Lord was profiled among other senior New Yorkers in ''

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 ...

''. The article reported that Lord was living in a Lower Manhattan home for seniors, and he was starting a new literary agency at 99 years old. One author represented by his new agency was

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

. ''Little Boy'', part novel, part memoir, was published by Doubleday in time for Ferlinghetti's 100th birthday.

Personal life

Lord's four marriages all ended in divorce. He had one daughter. He died in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

, on September 3, 2022, his 102nd birthday.

References

* *

External links

Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

Eldridge & Co. interview, 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Sterling 1920 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American biographers 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American biographers 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American memoirists American centenarians American company founders American male non-fiction writers American talent agents Businesspeople from Iowa Businesspeople from New York City Grinnell College alumni Literary agents Men centenarians Military personnel from Iowa People from Burlington, Iowa People from Greenwich Village United States Army personnel of World War II Writers from Iowa Writers from Manhattan

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links