Tributes for Don Weise began circulating online over the weekend as word spread that Weise, a well-known advocate and spokesperson for publishing queer and diverse voices, died on January 10 at age 59.

Weise began his publishing career at Clies Press before moving to Carroll & Graf, where among the many books he published was Dennis Cooper's Lambda Award–winning novel The Sluts.

He left C&G in 2007 and took the reins of Alyson Books, a trailblazing LGBTQ book publisher that had been experiencing financial problems and had recently taken on a new owner. After some earlier success, the publisher’s owners decided to turn Alyson into an e-book-only publisher. Weise subsequently left the company in 2010 and launched Magnus Books, an indie press dedicated to LGBTQ literature that published 12 to 20 titles annually for a short period of time.

After several years as sole proprietor of Magnus, in 2015 Weise joined the children’s book publisher Charlesbridge to oversee its adult imprint, Imagine. His final publishing enterprise was Querelle Press, a small publisher started in 2016 that focused on publishing new LGBTQ titles as well as offering self-publishing services.

In addition to serving as a book editor and publisher, Weise was a scholar in African American history and his books included The Long Walk to Freedom: Runaway Slave Narratives (Beacon Press) and The Huey P. Newton Reader (Seven Stories).

In 2009, Weise was named a Change Maker by PW for his work in publishing gay and lesbian books. In an interview, Weise noted that he was repeatedly asked if the need for queer-focused publishers had been outgrown.

“I answer that two ways,” he responded. “First, straight people for the most part don't have a grasp of our lives. While they can be responsible for some very good gay books, they tend to follow hot topics or chase celebrities, without going outside the predictable, where most of us actually live our lives. As a gay man, I not only know what our community cares about, including what's off the radar, I also know what communities within the larger community care about.”

“Secondly and more to the point,” he continued, “every book of nonfiction I publish wherein someone who's not out is identified as gay must be vetted by a lawyer. We can debate political advances forever, but so long as we live in a world where you can be sued simply for calling someone gay, we need gay publishers to help lead us toward enlightenment.”

On a lighter note, Weise revealed his first job was an emergency room orderly, which he said, “prepared me for the life and death drama of publishing.”

Weise is survived by his mother, Linda Weise, sisters Susan and Lori Weise, and his niece Elizabeth Bouza. Susan remembered her brother as someone with “a great sense of humor and was very kind, always helpful to everyone, including animals, especially cats.”