John Storey, co-founder of Storey Publishing, passed away on November 26, 2022. He was 79.
In 1983, Storey and his wife Martha bought the publishing arm of Garden Way, a company long known for its rototillers and garden cats, and founded Storey Publishing. Setting up headquarters in Pownal, Vt., Storey Publishing became a trusted authority for books on gardening, farming, building, cooking, crafts. Under the Storeys' leadership, the company developed the acclaimed animal-husbandry series, Storey’s Guide to Raising, now with 14 titles and 2.7 million copies in print. John and Martha also co-authored the reference Storey Basic Country Skills, with 200,000 copies in print. Bestselling titles also include Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide, and The Backyard Homestead.
In 2000, the Storeys sold the company to Workman Publishing, and in 2021, as an imprint of Workman Publishing, Storey joined the Hachette Book Group when it acquired Workman.
Dan Reynolds, former CEO of Storey and now senior v-p and publisher of Workman, remembered Storey, his mentor, as "a passionate entrepreneur whose fascinating career reflects much of what was going on in the culture in which he lived, including the back to the land movement, the quest to be self-reliant, and the pursuit of an independent homesteading life." The desire for that type of lifestyle as resurfaced from time to time, Reynolds noted, adding, "the valuable, trusted information contained in the books John published helped the dreamers achieve their goals which further fueled the promise of it all."
Storey is survived by his wife, their three children, and their grandchildren.
