Bebe Nance Cole
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 9/30/2002
Bebe Nance Cole, longtime book buyer and the first woman president of the Association of Book Travelers, died on August 28. She was 72. Cole's publishing career began in 1948 as an assistant book buyer for Thalheimer's Department Store in Virginia; in 1953 she began a 17-year association with Cokesbury Book Store as manager and buyer, after which she moved to New York City. In 1972, she became the first category buyer at Waldenbooks and, later, joined Doubleday as assistant sales manager, rising to the position of national accounts manager. She became the first female member of the Association of Book Travelers in 1971 and served as its president from 1979 to 1980.
