Cass Canfield, Jr., long-time HarperCollins editor and publisher, passed away on July 30 at the age of 90.
Canfield joined Harper in 1958 as an assistant to the president, and remained with the company until his retirement in 2004. Over the course of his 46 year tenure at Harper, Canfield worked with authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Peter Drucker, Craig Claiborne, Louis Fischer and Mario Vargas Llosa. He served as publisher of Harper's Paperbacks, Religious and Medical Books, eventually becoming the head of the Trade Book Division of Harper & Row. In 1962, Canfield launched Harper Colophon Books, a predecessor to the Harper Perennial imprint.
He was the son of another major figure in the company's history. His father, Cass Sr., joined Harper & Row in 1924, later serving as president. He was house senior editor at Harper's from 1967 until his death in 1986.
"Between these two publishing legends, there was a Cass Canfield working at HarperCollins for 80 years," wrote HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray in a statement about Canfield's passing. "And while there are many people at HarperCollins who remember Cass Jr. personally, all of us will remember him for his great contributions to our company’s legacy."
