Mort Janklow, who revolutionized book publishing as an agent, including Jackie Collins, Sidney Poitier, Pope John Paul II, Sidney Sheldon, Daniel Stell, Ted Turner, and Nancy Reagan. He was 91 years old.
Janklow died Wednesday night of heart failure at his home in Water Mill, New York, publicist Paul Bogards said.
The powerful and ever-curious Janklow began his career as a literary agent in 1972, when Richard Nixon’s friend, client, critic, and speechwriter, William Sapphire, asked him to work on a book he was writing about the 37th president. Knowing little about the publishing industry at the time, Janklow agreed to represent Sapphire and almost immediately signed a book deal.
When the Watergate scandal broke and the book’s publisher, William Morrow and company, tried to back out of a $250,000 contract, Janklov sued, ushering in a new era of copyright. Then he sold the book, 1975 Autumn: Interior view of the Pre-Watergate White HouseUntil Doubleday.
“We take the editor out of the captain’s seat and put the author in,” Janklov once said. “The editor must be replaced; Authorless Yanklow later became known in publishing circles as a “writers advocate.”
Janklov founded his own literary agency in 1977 and will work with bestselling authors, National Book Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel Prize winners, celebrities, scientists, journalists, presidents, experts and poets. His client list also includes John Glenn, Al Gore, Thomas Harris (Silence of the innocents), Judith Krantz, John Erlichmann, David McCallow, Michael Moore, Ronald Reagan, Pat Riley, Carl Segan, Robert Wagner, Barbara Walters and Steven Weinberg.
In 1989, he co-founded New York-based Janklow & Nesbit Associates with fellow literary agent Lynn Nesbit, and served as president of the company.
“Morty was a beacon of positivity and hope in an uncertain world,” Nesbit said in a statement. “He radiated optimism and his clients, family and friends always trusted him and learned from him. He was a shining light in the publishing world, loyal to his writers and passionate about our business. We all miss him.”
Morton Lloyd Janklow, born in New York on May 30, 1930, grew up in Queens as the son of a lawyer. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1950 and Columbia Law School in 1953, joined the Spear and Hill law firm in 1960, and in 1967 founded his own firm, Janklow & Traum.
At Columbia Law School, he founded the Morton L. Janklow Program for Advocacy in the Arts and endowed the Morton L. Janklow Chair in Literary and Artistic Property Law, which is now chaired by Professor Jane Ginsburg.
In Syracuse, he served on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors and founded the Janklow Artistic Leadership Program. For more than four decades he was a distinguished member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He has also served on several charitable advisory boards, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and the Solomon R. At Guggenheim Foundation.
Clients and colleagues alike remember Janklow as a caring and generous man, a fierce advocate, and a curious, unbridled man who speaks with steel.
Commemorative plans will be announced.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
