Thomas Guinzburg

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Thomas Guinzburg
Born
Thomas Henry Guinzburg

(1926-03-30)March 30, 1926
New York City, U.S.
DiedSeptember 8, 2010(2010-09-08) (aged 84)
New York City, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Editor and publisher
Spouses
​
(m. 1956⁠–⁠1963)​
Rusty Unger
​
(divorced)​
PartnerVictoria Anstead
Children3

Thomas Henry Guinzburg (March 30, 1926 – September 8, 2010) was an American editor and publisher who served as the first managing editor of The Paris Review following its inception in 1953 and later succeeded his father as president of the Viking Press.

Life and career

Guinzburg was born on March 30, 1926, to a

William F. Buckley, Jr. was editor.[1]

Guinzburg visited

T. Coraghessan Boyle, Jack Kerouac, V. S. Naipaul, Adrienne Rich, Philip Roth and Mona Simpson.[5] Guinzburg was chosen as the Paris Review's first managing editor, as he was the only one with and prior publishing experience, building on his time at the Yale Daily News.[1] Editor Robert B. Silvers of The New York Review of Books cited Guinzburg's "marvelous combination of idealist and realist" in which "He was always encouraging The Review not to be deterred from discovering young writers of quality" while always maintaining "a grasp of the really rough details of commercial publishing."[1]

He joined the publicity department at Viking Press in 1954 and assumed the position of president after his father's death in 1961.

John Ashberry, Arthur Miller, Hannah Arendt, Malcolm Cowley, Jimmy Breslin, Gordon Parks, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, James Baldwin,Iris Murdoch and John Steinbeck who was the Best Man at his wedding to Rusty Unger. He published Gravity's Rainbow, the 1973 book by Thomas Pynchon, which won the National Book Award the following year. As a now infamous stunt, Guinzburg had Professor Irwin Corey accept the award on Pynchon's behalf, delivering a hilarious stream-of-consciousness speech in which he referred to the author as "Richard Python".[1]

In 1980 he was a founding member of the original Rotisserie Baseball League.

Guinzburg was an active philanthropist, sponsoring and working intensively with an inner city high school class as part of

Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center.[1]
which fulfills wishes of adult cancer patients.

Guinzburg died in Manhattan at age 84 on September 8, 2010, due to

heart bypass surgery. He was survived by a companion of 15 years, Victoria Anstead, two granddaughters, a daughter Kate and a son Michael from his first wife, actress Rita Gam, whom he married in 1956.[9] He was also survived by a daughter, Amanda Guinzburg, from his second marriage to writer, Rusty Unger.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Weber, Bruce. "Thomas Guinzburg, Paris Review Co-Founder, Dies at 84", The New York Times, September 10, 2010. Accessed September 13, 2010.
  2. ISBN 978-0-7432-1797-2
    .
  3. ISBN 0-312-35003-1
    . Accessed September 13, 2010.
  4. ISBN 9780743217972
    .
  5. ^ History, The Paris Review. Accessed September 13, 2010.
  6. ^ Staff. "Harold K. Gulnzburg, 61, Dead; Co-Founder of the Viking Press; President of Publishing Firm Started Literary Guild and Portable Library Editions", The New York Times October 19, 1961. Accessed September 13, 2010.
  7. ^ Whitman, Alden. "Viking Press Is Sold to Penguin Books", The New York Times, November 11, 1975. Accessed September 13, 2010.
  8. ^ McFadden, Robert D. "Death of a First Lady ; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Dies of Cancer at 64", The New York Times, May 20, 1994. Accessed September 13, 2010.
  9. ^ Staff. "RITA GAM REMARRIED; Film Actress Is Wed Here to Thomas H. Guinzburg", The New York Times, March 24, 1956. Accessed September 13, 2010.
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