Dan Frank, editorial director of Pantheon since 1996, died on May 24 in New York City at the age of 67. The news of Frank's death was announced by Reagan Arthur, executive v-p and publisher of Knopf Pantheon Schocken.
"For decades, Dan has been the public face of Pantheon, setting the tone for the house and overseeing the list," Arthur wrote in her staff memo. "He had an insatiable curiosity about life and, indeed, that curiosity informed many of his acquisitions. As important as the books he published and the authors he edited, Dan served as a mentor to younger colleagues, endlessly generous with his time and expertise. Famously soft-spoken, a 'writer’s editor,' and in possession of a heartfelt laugh that would echo around the thirteenth floor, he was so identified with the imprint that some of his writers took to calling the place Dantheon."
Frank joined Pantheon in 1991 as v-p and senior editor before being promoted to editorial director in 1996. During his tenure, Pantheon became well known as a publisher of narrative science, world literature, contemporary fiction, and graphic novels, and Pantheon authors won two Pulitzer Prizes, several National Book Awards, numerous National Book Critics Circle Awards, and multiple Eisner Awards.
Among the authors Frank worked with are Charles Baxter, Madison Smartt Bell, Joseph J. Ellis, James Fallows, James Gleick, Jill Lepore, Maria Popova, Oliver Sacks, and Art Spiegelman.
Frank's family will host a public service in his memory on Tuesday, June 22, at 4:00 p.m. ET at All Souls Church at 1157 Lexington Avenue in New York. A reception will follow.
This story has been updated with further information.
