Beyond Words has announced the death of Cynthia M. Black, president and editor in chief. Black, 61, died in Hawaii. She is best known as the acquiring editor of The Secret (Atria Beyond Words, 2006), the multimillion-selling self-help book. But she also worked on more than 300 other titles in her lifetime. Beyond Words was founded in 1983 and also published the bestseller The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto (2004). A native of Honolulu, Black was the recipient of Advertising Age magazine’s 2007 Entertainment Marketer of the Year award and was named one of Ten Outstanding Women of Independent Publishing by Independent Publisher in 2006. Said Atria publisher and president Judith Curr, "She was indeed a great publishing visionary who cared deeply about her authors and the audience of people that could be helped in their various life searches via her books."