Ted H. Terry, a longtime leader in Christian publishing and bookselling, has died. He was 82.

Terry began his career in publishing in 1964 as a sales representative for Thomas Nelson. He went on to hold positions at W.W. Norton and the Lee Collins and Associates sales team, which represented Christian and trade book publishers around the country. In 2001, he founded the Noble Marketing Group with sponsoring publisher Dwight Baker, CEO of the Baker Publishing Group from 1997 to 2023, to represent an array of major Christian publishers including Baker, Kregel, David C. Cook, InterVarsity Press, Broadstreet, the Good Book Company, and Crossway and others.

“Over three decades of continual transitions in book publishing and retailing, Ted Terry never wavered in his loyalty to Christian readers and the companies who serve them best,” Baker said in the ECPA's newsletter, Rush to Press. “Ted Terry was a friend and colleague and our profession has been richly rewarded by his presence.”

At the 2024 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association awards banquet, Terry was given the Chair Award for his service to the industry. And last year, upon Terry's retirement, ECPA president Jeff Crosby also wrote a tribute to Terry's contributions to the Christian Retailers Association in CRA Today magazine that included high praise from booksellers. Kathi Broughton, book buyer at Sower Bible Bookstore in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, said in the article, “Ted’s knowledge of the Christian market has been a great help to us, and he is willing to answer our barrage of questions. Both Ted and [his wife] Marietta are also prayer warriors and have been ones we count on many times."

Crosby told PW that across many years Terry was like a father figure to him and to many others, calling on them often and urging them to visit special Christian bookstores with him: "I would like to think I was special but he treated man many of us in that same way."

Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly characterized Lee Collins and Associates as a legal firm.