Lisa Wyeth Kirk, president of LWK Communications in Los Angeles and a publicist for many authors and publishers, died July 16 after a brief illness. She was 51.

Kirk began as a publicist in 1976 and worked for T.Y. Crowell, Harper, Houghton Mifflin and Stewart Tabori & Chang before moving to California in 1984. Her firm offered Coast representation to many publishers and authors, including S&S and authors Jerzy Kosinski, Vincent Bugliosi, Clive Cussler, Bob Woodward and Joseph Heller.