Sterling Lord

{{Infobox person

| name = Sterling Lord

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|9|3}}

| birth_place = Burlington, Iowa, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|9|3|1920|9|3}}

| death_place = Ocala, Florida, U.S.

| occupation = {{Hlist|Literary editor|editor|author}}

| alma_mater = Grinnell College (BA)

| children = 1

| spouse = Four times divorced

}}

Sterling Lord (September 3, 1920 – September 3, 2022) was an American literary agent, editor, and author. His clients included Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Howard Fast, Jimmy Breslin, and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Early life and education

Lord was born in Burlington, Iowa,{{cite news | author = Kilen, Mike | date = April 15, 2015 | url = http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2015/04/16/burlington-iowa-sterling-lord-book-agent-famous-jack-kerouac/25906895 | title = The Agent from Iowa Who Found Greatness | access-date = July 3, 2015 | work = The Des Moines Register | archive-date = September 5, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220905190140/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2015/04/16/burlington-iowa-sterling-lord-book-agent-famous-jack-kerouac/25906895/ | url-status = live }}{{cite web|author= Heilpern, John|author-link= John Heilpern|url= http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/02/agent-sterling-lord-launching-jack-kerouac|title= Legendary Literary Agent Sterling Lord on How Jack Kerouac Got His Start|work= Vanity Fair|date= March 21, 2012|access-date= July 3, 2015|archive-date= February 12, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170212140124/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/02/agent-sterling-lord-launching-jack-kerouac|url-status= live}} on September 3, 1920.{{cite news|title=Sterling Lord, Premier Literary Agent, Is Dead at 102|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/books/sterling-lord-dead.html|first=David|last=Margolick|date=September 4, 2022|access-date=September 4, 2022|newspaper=The New York Times|url-access=limited|archive-date=September 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904145516/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/books/sterling-lord-dead.html|url-status=live}} His father, also named Sterling, was an executive at the Leopold Desk Company in Burlington who also worked as a bookbinder. Aldo Leopold, a scientist and writer, was his uncle. While in high school, Lord was the school's newspaper editor. He also became a tennis singles champ in 1937 and 1938 and was ranked nationally in both the Boys and Juniors Divisions. In 1976, his book Returning The Serve Intelligently was included in the United States Tennis Instructional Series published by Doubleday. Lord studied English at Grinnell College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1942.{{cite web|title=Sterling Lord '42, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters|url=https://www.grinnell.edu/news/sterling-lord-42-honorary-doctor-humane-letters|access-date=September 5, 2022|date=May 22, 2014|publisher=Grinnell College|archive-date=September 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905113125/https://www.grinnell.edu/news/sterling-lord-42-honorary-doctor-humane-letters|url-status=live}}

Career

After graduation, Lord joined the U.S. Army during World War II, and was an editor for a weekly magazine supplement of Stars and Stripes. The Army discontinued the magazine in 1948, but Lord co-owned it as a private publication for a year afterwards.

Lord then moved to New York City and entered the publishing industry. A magazine called Weekend which he bought with a partner, Evan Jones, failed, and he was fired from Cosmopolitan magazine. In 1951, he founded his own business, a literary shop in New York City. In 1952, he launched his literary agency, later merging with another agency, Literistic, to form Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.{{Cite news|last=Leland|first=John|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/nyregion/coronavirus-elders-nyc.html|title='I Like It, Actually': Why So Many Older People Thrive in Lockdown|date=April 24, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 24, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|url-access=limited|archive-date=April 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424093025/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/nyregion/coronavirus-elders-nyc.html|url-status=live}} Kerouac entrusted him with his novel On the Road, and after more than four years Viking Press bought and published it. Lord's other noted clients included Jimmy Breslin, Ken Kesey with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and political figures like John Sirica, Robert McNamara, and Ted Kennedy.

Open Road published Lord's memoir Lord of Publishing in 2013.{{cite news|author = Italie, Hillel |title=A Memoir by Kerouac's Agent, Sterling Lord|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/memoir-kerouacs-agent-sterling-lord|access-date = July 3, 2015| publisher = Associated Press |date=January 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035759/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/memoir-kerouacs-agent-sterling-lord|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}

In 2015, the city of Burlington held its first Sterling Lord Writers and Readers Festival to honor him. Five years later, during the coronavirus pandemic, Lord was profiled among other senior New Yorkers in The New York Times. The article reported that Lord was living in a Lower Manhattan home for seniors, and he was starting a new literary agency at 99 years old. One author represented by his new agency was Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Little Boy, part novel, part memoir, was published by Doubleday in time for Ferlinghetti's 100th birthday.{{cite news|title=Lawrence Ferlinghetti Celebrates His 100th Birthday With a Novel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/books/review/lawrence-ferlinghetti-little-boy.html|first=Robert|last=Pinsky|date=March 21, 2019|access-date=September 4, 2022|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-date=September 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904200709/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/books/review/lawrence-ferlinghetti-little-boy.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Little Boy by Lawrence Ferlinghetti review – unleashing the word-hoard|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/11/little-boy-lawrence-ferlinghetti-review|first=Ian|last=Sansom|author-link=Ian Sansom|date=April 11, 2019|access-date=September 4, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|archive-date=September 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904200708/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/11/little-boy-lawrence-ferlinghetti-review|url-status=live}}

Personal life

Lord's four marriages all ended in divorce. He had one daughter. He died in Ocala, Florida, on September 3, 2022, his 102nd birthday.

References

{{Cite magazine |last=Heilpern |first=John |date=February 2013 |title=Out to Lunch with Sterling Lord |url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2013/2/out-to-lunch-with-sterling-lord |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=September 5, 2022}}
{{Cite magazine |last=Lord |first=Sterling |date=Autumn 2011 |title=When Kerouac Met Kesey |url=https://theamericanscholar.org/when-kerouac-met-kesey/ |magazine=The American Scholar |access-date=September 5, 2022}}