John Taylor “Ike” Williams, the longtime literary agent and intellectual property and media and entertainment lawyer, died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 26. He was 86.
A leading figure in literary New England for decades, Williams represented author and publisher clients at the Boston-based law firm Palmer and Dodge before founding Kneerim & Williams with Jill Kneerim in 1990. He remained an agent at Calligraph following the merger of Kneerim & Williams and the Zoë Pagnamenta Agency in 2023.
Williams specialized in anthropology, biography, history, natural science, and politics, and represented such authors as Frances Fitzgerald, Nigel Hamilton, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Michael Porter, and Lawrence Tribe, as well as the estates of James MacGregor Burns, Richard Wilbur, and E.O. Wilson, among many others. Williams’s legal clients included Jeff Kinney, Norman Mailer, and Howard Zinn.
An author himself, Williams’s book The Shores of Bohemia: A Cape Cod Story 1910-1960 was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2022. He was also involved in a number of cultural institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts and Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center, where he was longtime cochair.
"Ike was a fierce champion of authors and a pugnacious fighter on behalf of free speech," wrote Calligraph, in a statement. "He was debonair, the most well-read person in New England, and a generous mentor. We were all terrifically lucky to have him as a colleague, friend, lawyer, and agent, and we will miss him."
Williams is survived by his wife Caroline; sons Caleb, Jared, and Nathaniel; and several grandchildren. A public memorial is planned for the spring, with details yet to be announced.
