{{Short description|British-born American publisher (1936–2018)}} {{For|those of a similar name|Peter Meyer (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = | birth_name = Peter Michael Mayer | birth_date = March 28, 1936 | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|11 May 2018|28 March 1936}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York, U.S. | occupation = Publisher | education = | spouse = | children = | known_for = Founder of The Overlook Press | awards = | website = }} '''Peter Michael Mayer''' (28 March 1936 – 11 May 2018) was a British-born American independent publisher who was president of The Overlook Press/Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., a Woodstock, New York–based publishing company he founded with his father in 1971.<ref name=Indie>{{cite web | last = New York Center for Independent Publishing | title = Peter Mayer to be Honored at 2007 NYCIP Benefit | date = 9 November 2007 | url=http://nycip.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/peter-mayer-to-be-honored-at-2007-nycip-benefit/ | accessdate = 6 June 2008 }}</ref> At the time of Overlook's founding, Mayer was head of Avon Books, a large New York–based paperback publisher.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite web | last = Forbes.com | title = Profile: Peter Mayer | website = Forbes | url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-mayer/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821095201/http://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-mayer/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 August 2014 | accessdate = 8 August 2014}} </ref> From 1978 to 1996, Mayer was CEO of Penguin Books, where he introduced a flexible style in editorial, marketing, and production.<ref name=Forbes/><ref>{{cite web |last = Penguin Books, Ltd |title = About Penguin: Company History |url = http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/packages/uk/aboutus/history.html |accessdate = 6 June 2008 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080515160021/http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/packages/uk/aboutus/history.html |archivedate = 15 May 2008 }} </ref> During his tenure, he was credited with reviving the company into "the most formidable and admired publisher in the English language".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/giant-trade-publishing-peter-mayer-dies-784561|title="Giant of trade publishing" Peter Mayer dies|work=The Bookseller|date=11 May 2018|access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> Recently, Mayer financially revived both Ardis, a publisher of Russian literature in English, and Duckworth, an independent publishing house in the UK.<ref name=Indie/>
==Early life and education== {{external media | width = 210px | float = right | video1 = [https://www.webofstories.com/play/peter.mayer/1 Peter Mayer, Publisher], Web of Stories, 12 November 2015.<ref name="WoS">{{cite web | title =Peter Mayer, Publisher | website = | publisher =Web of Stories | date =12 November 2015 | url =https://www.webofstories.com/play/peter.mayer/1 | accessdate =1 March 2017 }} 99 short segments, with transcripts</ref> }}
Born to a Jewish family<ref name=NYTKewHard>Chan, Sewell, [https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/growing-up-jewish-in-postwar-kew-gardens/ "Growing Up Jewish in Postwar Kew Gardens"], ''The New York Times'', 22 April 2009.</ref> in London, England, on 28 March 1936,<ref name="WashPo">{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/publisher-peter-mayer-dies-at-age-82/2018/05/11/39b2a3c2-5541-11e8-a6d4-ca1d035642ce_story.html?noredirect=on|title=Publisher Peter Mayer dies at age 82|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= 11 May 2018|access-date=12 May 2018}}{{dead link|date=June 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Mayer migrated to the United States in 1939. He was raised in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City.<ref name=NYTKewHard /> His father, Alfred, from Luxembourg, later established a glove manufacturing business while his mother, Lee, who was from Germany, was a homemaker.<ref name="NYTimes"/> A Ford Foundation scholarship enabled him to earn his BA degree in English literature at Columbia College, going on to read PPE at Christ Church, Oxford University, where he graduated in 1954.<ref name="NYTimes"/> He returned to Columbia in 1956 with a ''summa cum laude'' degree in English literature. He then served in the US Merchant Marine before being granted a graduate fellowship in comparative literature at Indiana University, and in 1959 earned a Fulbright scholarship to study German literature at the Freie Universität Berlin.<ref name=Overlook />
==Publishing career== In 1961 Mayer began work as an editorial assistant at Orion Press, followed in 1962 by a 14-year tenure at Avon Books, where he became Editor in Chief and Publisher.<ref name=Overlook /> In 1971, during his time at Avon Books, Mayer founded his own publishing label, The Overlook Press. In the late 1970s he was appointed publisher and president of Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster). From 1978 to 1997, he was chairman and CEO of the Penguin group, overseeing Penguin's companies in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, and India.<ref name=Overlook />
During his time at Penguin, Mayer courted controversy as he agreed to publish Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel, ''The Satanic Verses''.<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/obituaries/peter-mayer-publisher-of-the-incendiary-satanic-verses-dies-at-82.html|title=Peter Mayer, Publisher of the Incendiary 'Satanic Verses,' Dies at 82|author=Genzlinger, Neil|newspaper=The New York Times|date=11 May 2018|access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> The book led to a major argument with Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issuing a ''fatwā'' instructing Muslims to kill the author.<ref>Jessica Jacobson. ''Islam in Transition: Religion and identity among British Pakistani youth''. 1998, p. 34.</ref> Mayer himself also became the recipient of threats.<ref name="NYTimes"/>
After leaving Penguin, Mayer returned to his own firm, The Overlook Press, which he had been developing in his free time over the past few decades.<ref name="About">{{cite web|url=http://www.overlookpress.com/about.html|title=About Us|publisher=The Overlook Press|access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> His label aimed to be "a home for distinguished books that had been 'overlooked' by larger houses".<ref name="About"/> The imprint was responsible for the resurrection of the Freddy the Pig series of children's books, returning them to print for the first time since 1958.<ref name="NYTimes"/><ref name="BookPage">{{cite web|url=https://bookpage.com/features/19556-freddy-pig-makes-it-big#.WvahvIgvzIU|title=Freddy the Pig makes it big|date=3 March 2016|first=Michael |last=Sims |website=BookPage|access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref>
Under his presidency, The Overlook Press experienced a period of growth. Most notably, in 2002, they acquired Ardis Publishing, an imprint dedicated to Russian literature.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/51921-publishing-in-russia-2012-peter-mayer-on-publishing-and-promoting-russian-works.html|title=Publishing in Russia 2012: Peter Mayer on Publishing and Promoting Russian Works|work=Publishers Weekly|date=11 May 2012|access-date= 12 May 2018}}</ref> This acquisition was followed up in 2003 by Mayer's decision to purchase Duckworth, which had gone into receivership.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429033/Woolfs-publisher-is-saved-by-American.html|title=Woolf's publisher is saved by American|first=Nigel| last= Reynolds|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 May 2003|access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> He remained President of The Overlook Press until his death in 2018.<ref name="Overlook"/>
==Awards== In 1996 Mayer was awarded the title Chevalier and Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.<ref name=Overlook>[http://www.overlookpress.com/about/peter-mayer.html Peter Mayer biography], The Overlook Press.</ref> He also received many industry awards, including the Foundation of Indian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association Award for Outstanding Contribution to International Publishing (1996) and recognition as a Literary Market Place Most Distinguished Publisher.<ref name=Overlook /> On 13 December 2007, the New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) honored Mayer with the Poor Richard Award for his lifetime contribution to independent book publishing, which was presented to him by literary agent Ed Victor.<ref>[http://www.beneaththecover.com/2007/11/26/press-release-overlook-press-to-be-honored/ "Overlook Press Publisher to Be Honored" (press release)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714200344/http://www.beneaththecover.com/2007/11/26/press-release-overlook-press-to-be-honored/ |date=14 July 2014 }}, Beneath The Cover, 26 November 2007.</ref> Mayer was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the London Book Fair (2008), and the Russian "Big Book Prize" for Distinguished International Achievement (2011).<ref name=Overlook />
==Personal life and death== Mayer was married to Mary Hall in 1980 but divorced in 1991.<ref name="NYTimes"/>
He died at the age of 82 in his home in Manhattan, New York, due to complications related to amyloidosis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/entertainment/publisher-peter-mayer-dies-age-82-article-1.3984460|title=Publisher Peter Mayer dies at age 82|newspaper=New York Daily News|author=The Associated Press|date=11 May 2018|access-date= 12 May 2018}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Page, Benedicte, [https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tributes-pour-legendary-penguin-chief-peter-mayer-784606 "Former colleagues remember legendary Penguin chief Peter Mayer"], ''The Bookseller'', 14 May 2018. * [https://books.google.com/books?id=Dtn5Kg1tFm0C&dq=Peter+Mayer%3A+How+to+Run+a+Sales+Meeting&pg=PT144 "Peter Mayer: How to Run a Sales Meeting"], in David Calvin Laufer, ''Dialogues with Creative Legends and Aha Moments in a Designer's Career'', New Riders, 2013, pp. 109–113. *{{C-SPAN|1005293}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Peter}} Category:1936 births Category:2018 deaths Category:American book publishers (people) Category:American book publishing company founders Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:American people of Luxembourgian-Jewish descent Category:Columbia College, Columbia University alumni Category:Deaths from amyloidosis Category:Penguin Books people Category:People from Kew Gardens, Queens