Safro Joins Twelve

Sonya Safro has been named associate publicist at Hachette's Twelve imprint. Most recently at Knopf, Safro will be handling publicity for all Twelve paperback releases, in addition to her general publicity responsibilities.

Querio to Sourcebooks

Sourcebooks has hired Liz Querio as its new marketing manager. Querio was most recently a senior marketing specialist with OfficeMax and has broad experience in retail promotion, direct marketing, and b2b marketing.

Obituary: Harold McGraw Jr., 92

Harold McGraw Jr., who worked at the company founded by his grandfather for more than 40 years, died March 24 at his home in Darien, Conn., at the age of 92. McGraw began at M-H as a sales rep in 1947 and was elected president in 1974 and CEO a year later. At the time of his retirement in 1988 he was also chairman, and served as chairman emeritus until his death.

During his time at the company, M-H expanded beyond book publishing and became a major force in the financial market, most notably through its ownership of Standard & Poor's. McGraw's most significant achievement, however, was his success in fending off a hostile takeover attempt of the company by American Express in 1979 when a number of major publishers were being acquired by larger conglomerates. During his time as CEO, revenue at the company doubled and earnings per share tripled, and MH became more deeply involved with technology.

McGraw was very active in the publishing industry and was a well-known philanthropist to education and literary causes.