Susan Richman, a former publicity executive at Scribner and other houses and who also served as president of the Women’s Media Group and the Publishers Publicity Association, died at her home April 19. She was 80.
Richman began her publishing career after graduating from Cornell University, working as a clerk typist for Charles Scribner’s Sons. She eventually rose to the position of senior v-p and director of publicity for the publisher. Richman went on to work in publicity at a number of houses including Macmillan, Turner Books, and Warner Books, which is now part of the Hachette Book Group and renamed Grand Central Publishing.
During her tenure at GCP she worked with such authors as C.P. Snow, Jerry Lewis, P.D. James, Alan Paton, Patricia Cornwall, and Jack Welch. She retired from GCP in 2009.
Richman was deeply committed to the Goddard Riverside Community Center Book Fair, a longtime book industry charity partnership. Indeed, she worked with the fair for more than 30 years, organizing the its Meet the Author dinner events and helped to raise millions of dollars to support the nonprofit community center.
Richman was honored for her work at the nonprofit at an event in 2014 which featured tributes from such writers as Lee Child, Robert Caro, Mary Higgins Clark and Calvin Trillin. Richman said that the benefit book fair was “one of the best things that ever happened to me. The people who make up the Goddard Community, from the staff and clients to the board, committee members, dinner hosts and volunteers, have enriched my life.”
