Literary agent Richard Parks, who ran his own eponymous agency for more than 35 years, died in Greenville, S.C., from complications of dementia on April 23. He was 83.
Born in Jacksonville, Fla., Parks graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and earned a Master’s Degree in English at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. After a few years as a member of the faculty of Furman University, he joined the Curtis Brown Group in New York City. In 1979 Parks formed the Richard Parks Agency, which he led until 2015. His clients included Jonathan Lethem, Jonathan Carroll, and Susan Straight.
Parks is predeceased by his husband, Jim Garland, and survived by his sister, Diane Parks Cochran and her husband, Jim Redmond; his niece, Leslie Cochran Magee; two nephews, John Maxcy Cochran III and Julian Parks Cochran; five great nieces; and three great nephews.
A family funeral service will be scheduled later at Christ Church Episcopal in Greenville. The family suggests, in lieu of flowers, that a memorial gift may be made to Duke University.
