Lord was married four times, and had one child, Rebecca. He was well-spoken and athletic, a most able negotiator who dressed in tweed and avoided most vices. Lord turned them down, much to their surprise and anger. . Sterling Lord, the uniquely enduring literary agent who worked for years to find a publisher for Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and over the . NEW YORK -. [5] Little Boy, part novel, part memoir, was published by Doubleday in time for Ferlinghetti's 100th birthday. As a matter of longevity, at least, its pretty safe to say that no other literary agent anywhere at any time could have assembled such a group. Mr. Lord persuaded HarperCollins to pay $3.2 million to lure the Berenstain Bears childrens books from Random House. In 1976, his book Returning The Serve Intelligently was included in the United States Tennis Instructional Series published by Doubleday. His first marriage, he would acknowledge, helped inspire him to go into business for himself. Mr. Lord represented Ken Keseys novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.. Find the right funeral home to guide your family through end-of-life planning. His old-fashioned ways extended even to his letterhead, which listed his telephone number as Plaza 1-2533. If you didnt know New York City was 212, he really didnt want to hear from you, said Stuart Krichevsky, a fellow agent who worked with Mr. Lord for 16 years. Interment will be at the Bountiful City . In a 1983 article in The Globe and Mail of Toronto, Mr. Colbert said that it was to him that Mr. Giroux had sent Kerouac, and that it was he who had first spotted him an imperfect body with neck too long and legs too short in the office doorway. He represented former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Judge John J. Sirica of Watergate fame and worked often with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis during her time as an editor with Doubleday and Viking. After his death, Lord attempted to compete for rights to Kerouac's work against Kerouac's family and lost, and when a posthumous production . Lord held out for $1,000. Lord had quick success by selling film rights to two popular sports books, Rocky Grazianos Somebody Up There Likes Me and Jimmy Piersalls Fear Strikes Out. But Lords On the Road quest would prove bumpier. He married Marilyn Colson on Read More, Luella Ruth Sheffler Born: June 24, 1926 in Escanaba, MI Died: January 19, 2023 in Sterling, IL Luella Ruth Sheffler, 96 of Sterling, died Thursday, January 19, 2023 at the Citadel of Sterling. About 10 years ago Sterling Lord invited four long-term clients of his for lunch at the Regency Hotel in New York. Thanks to his friendship with Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, Lord helped launch Stan and Jan Berenstains multimillion-selling books about an anthropomorphic bear family. Im in a business that is absolutely captivating, Mr. Lord told Publishers Weekly in 2013, 61 years after entering it. When the fighting stopped, he helped edit the weekly magazine of the military publication Stars and Stripes; when the Army dropped that publication in 1948, he and a colleague briefly ran it privately, first out of Frankfurt, Germany, and then Paris, where Mr. Lord adopted the dapper dress that became his signature. Mr. Lord embraced Merry Pranksters and mobsters as well as more conventional types. Lord attended the author's funeral alongside fellow Beat Poet, Allen Ginsberg. Mr. Lords tennis skills he had played since he was 5 years old, was nationally ranked as a teenager and in 1949 took the French national champion Marcel Bernard to five sets proved a great asset, bestowing on a small-town Iowan a confidence that he might otherwise have lacked. A third author on hand that day, the writer Nicholas Pileggi, had been a client for at least 50 years. Lord was married four times, and had one child, Rebecca. Born to missionary parents in the West Indies, she loved the diversity of the world, believed in Read More, Alice B. One editor wrote to Lorde that Kerouac really does possess a tremendous talent of a very special kind. One early client was Al Hirshberg, who ghostwrote Fear Strikes Out, Jimmy Piersalls memoir of baseball and mental illness. Kerouac declined, but Lorde was so impressed with the book that he ended up pitching Kesey for his next work, Sometimes a Big Idea. His first marriage, he would acknowledge, helped inspire him to go into business for himself. Back in the U.S., he served as an editor at True and Cosmopolitan, from which he was fired, before founding the Sterling Lord Literary Agency. Mr. Lord didnt keep his original manuscript of Kerouacs On the Road, nor did he ever procure a signed copy for himself. After years of failed attempts, a filmed version of On the Road was released in 2012. And third, Ive been able to meet some extraordinarily interesting people.. A number of things about this business have really caught me and made it a compelling interest, Lord said in 2013. Even the customarily wary wiseguys who populate Mr. Pileggis books had faith in him. But Kerouac was a shy and fragile man, Mr. Lord wrote. He found a publisher for Nicholas Pileggis short story Wiseguy and helped arrange a deal for his famous adaptation of Goodfellas.. He gradually yielded day-to-day management of the company Sterling Lord Literistic. In 1957, the book was released, the New York Times raved, and On the Road soon entered the American canon. Sterling Lord, who for more than 60 years was one of New York's most successful and durable literary agents, died September 3.He was 102. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, journalist and political activist who penned the groundbreaking book on minimum wage Nickel and Dimed, died Thursday. He was well-spoken and athletic, a most able negotiator who dressed in tweed and avoided most vices. First, Im interested in good writing. Kerouac had completed a conventional novel, The Town and the City, but he had no agent and surely needed one for his next book. FILE - In this Jan. 8 2013 file photo, literary agent Sterling Lord speaks during an interview in his New York office. Lord died Saturday in a nursing home in Ocala, Fla.,his daughter, Rebecca Lord, said. Lord was born in Burlington, Iowa,[1][2] on September 3, 1920. By 1955, Kerouac was ready to give up but Lord was not. Kerouac declined, but Lord was so impressed by the book that he ended up representing Kesey for his next work, Sometimes a Great Notion.. He married Anastazia Hudson Read More, Patricia L. Gilkey Born: September 9, 1951 in Sterling, IL Died: February 19, 2023 in Sterling, IL STERLING - Patricia L. Gilkey, 71 of Sterling died Sunday February 19, 2023 at CGH Medical Center suddenly. In his 2013 memoir, Lord of Publishing, Mr. Lord remembered meeting Kerouac in 1952. But he was alert to new trends and an early ambassador for a revolutionary cultural movement: the Beats. [3], Last edited on 5 September 2022, at 21:13, "The Agent from Iowa Who Found Greatness", "Legendary Literary Agent Sterling Lord on How Jack Kerouac Got His Start", "Sterling Lord, Premier Literary Agent, Is Dead at 102", "Sterling Lord '42, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters", "A Memoir by Kerouac's Agent, Sterling Lord", "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Celebrates His 100th Birthday With a Novel", "Little Boy by Lawrence Ferlinghetti review unleashing the word-hoard", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sterling_Lord&oldid=1108705940, This page was last edited on 5 September 2022, at 21:13. Lord held out for $1,000. He negotiated the terms between McGinnis and the accused killer Geoffrey McDonald, later convicted, for the true crime classic Fatal Vision. A number of things about this business have really caught me and made it a compelling interest, Lord told the AP in 2013. But Mr. Lords On the Road quest would prove bumpier. Books and tennis were lifelong passions for Lord, born in Burlington, Iowa, in 1920. In 1952, he launched his literary agency, later merging with another agency, Literistic, to form Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.[5] Kerouac entrusted him with his novel On the Road, and after more than four years Viking Press bought and published it. [7][8], Lord's four marriages all ended in divorce. Even younger editors who may have related to Kerouacs jazzy celebration of youth and personal freedom turned him down. He died on Saturday in Ocala, Florida. Menu. Terry was born on December 18, 1954 in Princeton, the son of Howard and Patricia Read More, William 'Bill' Janssen Born: April 19, 1936 Died: January 16, 2023 William "Bill" Janssen died on Monday, January 16, 2023, at his home in Haymarket, Virginia, after being diagnosed with lung cancer a few months earlier. He had a good death and died peacefully of old age, she told the Associated Press. Inside Kerouacs weather-beaten knapsack and wrapped in a newspaper, Mr. Lord recalled, was a manuscript that Kerouac handed gingerly to him. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Mr. Lord had met many agents during his magazine years and believed they failed to understand that the American public was becoming more urban and sophisticated. HENRIETTA L. LORD, died at her home in Columbus on April 9, 2002. . Representatives for the former president informed Lord in the late 1960s that Johnson wanted $1 million for the book and that Lord should accept less than his usual commission for the honor of working with him. He also became a tennis star at Grinnell College, and later a good enough player to compete against Don Budge, among others. Patricia was born on June 14, 1944 in Colorado Springs Read More, June Alber Born: January 11, 1936 Died: January 10, 2023 in Sterling, IL June Aline Alber passed away January 10, 2023 the day before her 87th birthday at Rock River Hospice and Home in Sterling, IL after a brief illness. Al was born November 28, 1942 the son of Charles and Anita (Bane) Wildman. NEW YORK (AP) Sterling Lord, an exceptionally tough literary agent, worked for years to find a publisher for Jack Kerouacs On the Road and over the next decades arranged deals for everyone from true-crime author Joe McGinnis to creators Berenstains books are dead. Lorraine Read More, Mary Ferris's passing has been publicly announced by Schilling Funeral Home - Sterling in Sterling, IL. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. She Read More, Wanda McKnight Born: February 4, 1936 in Benton, IL Died: February 28, 2023 in Sterling, IL Wanda L. McKnight, 87 of Sterling died Tuesday February 28, 2023 at CGH Medical Center in Sterling. Thanks to his friendship with Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, Lord helped launch Stan and Jan Berenstains multimillion-selling books about an anthropomorphic bear family. Sterling Lord, the uniquely enduring literary agent who worked for years to find a publisher for Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and over the following . Lorde even hired a doctor who unsuccessfully tried to get Kerouac to come clean, but the businessman eventually refused because he was his literary, not life agent., Lord attended Kerouacs funeral, riding with him in a limousine his client Jimmy Breslin and standing by the grave next to Allen Ginsberg, sunlight filtering through the trees, the leaves turning brown after losing their autumn color.. Mr. Lord had represented him for a mere 44 years. He didnt bother to attend a special screening, citing mixed early reviews, and didnt show up for a private party for the film. But he quickly added a caveat: Never, he said, could he have sold it. His full list of clients produced works about sports, politics, murder and the suffering of illustrated animals. It began when his mother would read to him after dinner; he went on to edit his high school newspaper and work as a sports stringer around the same time for the Des Moines Register. Mr. Lords long string of successes began with Jack Kerouacs novel On the Road, which he sold for $1,000. According to the funeral home, the Read More, Beulah L. Sanders Born: May 3, 1934 in Sterling, IL Died: January 29, 2023 in Sterling, IL STERLING- Beulah L. Sanders, age 88, died peacefully and surrounded by family and friends at her Home Sunday, January 29th, 2023. An editor from Viking Press contacted Lord, offering an advance of $900. She was born on December 12, 1928 in Rock Falls, the daughter of Ernesto and Maria (Bologna) Bellini. He stayed with the company he founded until he was nearly 100 and then decided to launch a new one. On September 3, 2022, star literary agent and book enthusiast, Sterling Lord, passed away at the age of 102 in Ocala, . [3] His father, also named Sterling, was an executive at the Leopold Desk Company in Burlington who also worked as a bookbinder. He edited his high school newspaper and was a sports stringer around the same time for the Des Moines Register. Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Rarely, he boasted, did he scour for clients, let alone steal them as others were increasingly wont to do. Find an Obituary. He had just turned 102. By 1955, Kerouac was ready to give up but Lord was not. It was for his association with another writer, Jack Kerouac, and Kerouacs book On the Road, that Mr. Lord will most likely be remembered most, though his claim there is disputed. He was born on November 23, 1987 in Sterling the son of Thomas A. and Penny S. (Mashow) Avila Jr. and was a graduate Read More, Bob Marsh's passing has been publicly announced by Schilling Funeral Home - Sterling in Sterling, IL. After years of failed attempts, a filmed version of On the Road was released in 2012. After serving in the Army Air Force during World War II, Lord co-owned the Germany-based magazine Weekend, which soon folded. Representatives for the former president informed Lord in the late 1960s that Johnson wanted $1 million for the book and that Lord should accept less than his usual commission for the honor of working with him. [3] He died in Ocala, Florida, on September 3, 2022, his 102nd birthday. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Carrie was born July 28, 1937 the daughter of Carl and Roda (McPherson) Blankenship. Elijah W. Sterling of Dover, DE, went home to be with the Lord on November 21, 2019. But this is not a well-made novel, nor a saleable one nor even, I think, a good one.. His upbringing, he would later write, was the kind of pleasant, orderly world the Beats were trampling on in the fifties and sixties.. Published Sept. 5, 2022 6:11 a.m. PDT. It began when his mother would read to him after dinner; he went on to edit his high school newspaper and work as a sports stringer around the same time for the Des Moines Register. This material may not be published, broadcast, copied or distributed without permission. Lord died Saturday at a nursing home in Ocala, Florida, according to his daughter, Rebecca Lord. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file). 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