Condé Montrose Nast (March 26, 1873 – September 19, 1942) was an American
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
,
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and
business magnate
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
. He founded
Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Montrose Nast, and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan.
The company's med ...
, a mass media company, and published titles such as
''Vanity Fair'',
''Vogue'' and ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
''.
Early life
Named after his uncle, Condé Montrose Nast was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
to a family of
Midwestern
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
origin. His father,
William F. Nast—son of the German-born
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...
leader
William Nast—was an inventor who had been U.S.
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...
in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
. His mother, Esther A. Benoist, was a daughter of pioneering
St. Louis banker
Louis Auguste Benoist, a descendant of a prominent
French family who emigrated to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
, then to
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. He had three siblings.
Nast's aunt
financed his studies at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, from which he graduated in 1894. During his studies, he served as class president and a member of Georgetown's debating organization, the
Philodemic Society. He stayed on an extra year to receive a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. from Georgetown in 1895. He went on to earn a law degree from
Washington University in St. Louis in 1897.
Career

Nast did not take well to law and, upon graduation, got a job working for a former Georgetown classmate,
Robert Collier, as advertising manager for ''
Collier's Weekly
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Coll ...
''. Over the course of a decade he increased the advertising revenue a hundredfold. He published books and ''
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' was a 19th-century literary magazine published in Philadelphia from 1868 to 1915, when it relocated to New York to become ''McBride's Magazine''. It merged with '' Scribner's Magazine'' in 1916.
''Lippincott's' ...
'' with
Robert M. McBride. After leaving ''Collier's'', Nast bought
''Vogue'', then a small New York society magazine, transforming it into one of America's premier fashion magazines.
He then turned
''Vanity Fair'' into a sophisticated general-interest publication, with the help of his friend
Frank Crowninshield
Francis Welch Crowninshield (June 24, 1872 – December 28, 1947), better known as Frank or Crownie (''informal''), was an American journalist and art and theater critic best known for developing and editing the magazine '' Vanity Fair'' for 21 ...
, who was editor and a major influence for more than 20 years. It published many new and high-quality writers and displayed reproductions of modern art.
Nast eventually owned a stable of magazines that included
''House & Garden'', British, French and Argentine editions of ''Vogue'', ''
Le Jardin des Modes'' and
''Glamour'' – the last magazine added to the group while he was alive. While other publishers simply focused on increasing the number of magazines in circulation, Nast targeted groups of readers by income level or common interest. Among his staff were
Edna Woolman Chase, who served as the
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of ''Vogue'',
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhap ...
and
Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at '' The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, thr ...
.
Personal life

Nast was married twice. His first wife was Clarisse Coudert, a
Coudert Brothers
Coudert Brothers LLP was a New York-based law firm with a strong international outlook that practiced from 1853 until its dissolution in 2006.
History
The firm was established in 1853 in New York by three sons of Charles Coudert Sr.: Frederic Re ...
law-firm heiress who became a set and costume designer. They married in 1902, separated in 1919 and divorced in 1925. They had two children.
His second wife was Leslie Foster, granddaughter of short-time
governor of Wyoming Territory,
George W. Baxter
George White Baxter (January 7, 1855 – December 18, 1929) was an American politician who served as territorial governor of Wyoming from November 11, 1886 – December 20, 1886.
Early years
Baxter was born in Hendersonville, North Carolina ...
. They married in 1928 when she was 20 and he was 55 and divorced around 1932. They had one child.
Between 1932 and 1936, Nast's companion was ''Vanity Fair'' writer
Helen Brown Norden.
He was nearly ruined by the
Great Depression and spent his last years struggling to regain his early prosperity. Condé Nast died on September 19, 1942 and is interred at
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Roman Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is ...
in
Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 4,586 at the 2010 census.
History
The village was originally known as Hammond's Mill ...
. His grave is in Section 25 of the cemetery, near
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
and
Billy Martin
Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...
.
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nast, Condé Montrose
1873 births
1942 deaths
American magazine founders
American people of French-Canadian descent
American people of German descent
Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)
Businesspeople from New York City
Condé Nast people
Georgetown University alumni
Washington University School of Law alumni
Philodemic Society members
Washington University in St. Louis alumni