MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
November 15-30, 2005 Edition
Simon & Schuster
Editor in Chief
To Step Down
NEW YORK, NY/ 11/5/2005Michael V. Korda, editor-in-chief of Simon & Schusters trade books imprint, will retire at the end of this year after 37 years in that post. He will remain as editor in chief emeritus, continuing to work with a few top writers, including Larry McMurtry, David McCullough, and Mary Higgins Clark. He is also working on his own biography of Eisenhower and a history of the Battle of Britain.
Mr. Korda, age 72, treated for prostate cancer in 1994 and a heart attack in 1999, said he is not retiring for health reasons, but said it would be good to slow down. He also said the move was entirely his decision.
He and his wife, Margaret, are co-authors of several books, and he is the author of both fiction and nonfiction works published by Harpercollins.
The decision to step away “is entirely my own decision,” Mr. Korda said. “It is bittersweet.” Jack Romanos, the president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, and Carolyn Reidy, the president of the company’s adult publishing group, said in a joint letter to the company’s staff that Mr. Korda’s list of authors “could very well form the basis for its own thriving publishing house.”
Mr. Korda joined Simon & Schuster as an editor in 1958 and became editor in chief 10 years later. Four of his authors have won Pulitzer Prizes and two have won National Book awards. He has edited several presidential biographies and memoirs, including those of Henry Kissinger, Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
