Marcus Jaffe, 102

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. —  Marcus Henry Jaffe, age 102, died at home in the early morning hours of December 31, 2023.

Marc Jaffe was a prominent figure in the post-World War II, New York publishing scene, especially during his tenure as Editorial Director at Bantam Books from July 1961 through the late 1970s.

Career, military, family life and education.

Jaffe began his publishing career in New York City at Argosy Magazine, a popular men’s magazine of the late 40’s. Looking for a position of more responsibility, he moved to New American Library where he was initially appointed as Western & Mystery editor. In that capacity he worked with writers including Gore Vidal, who wrote three detective stories under the pseudonym of Edgar Box, and Mickey Spillane. During what Jaffe called “a great apprenticeship” over the next few years, he broadened his editorial reach to include important works such as Five Great Dialogues of Plato, a new translation of Dante’s Inferno by John Ciardi and an important contribution to the study of American history, A Documentary History of the US by Richard Heffner. After a brief tenure as the editor of Dell first Editions, he served as an editor at the short-lived Racine Books, launched by Western Publishing and Lithographing. Though he never saw the book through to publication, he encouraged the world-famous psychiatrist Viktor Frankl to publish his most important work under a title suggested by Jaffe, Man’s Search for Meaning.

He moved on to Bantam Books where he became Editorial Director in July 1961 and spent the next 19 years at the forefront of the paperback industry boom, called “the mass paperback revolution” beginning after World War II and lasting through the 1980s. Jaffe and Bantam President, Oscar Dystel, were responsible for publishing an extraordinarily diverse list, which brought them to the top of the paperback industry. During those years Jaffe was personally responsible for a number of important commercial best sellers, led by William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, which became a world-wide, million-copy best seller. At the other end of the spectrum were many titles in the Bantam Modern Classics series, and the unique text and design work by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, The Medium is the Massage. When asked what Jaffe considered his most important publishing contribution, he would offer his initiation and continuing support for Bantam’s series of foreign language dictionaries.

After Bantam, he became Vice President of Random House and Editorial Director of Ballantine Books, then founded Villard Books as part of Random House. After his tenure at Random House, Jaffe had his own imprint, Marc Jaffe Books, at Houghton Mifflin Company. He subsequently became a freelance editor and publishing consultant, founding Editorial Direction with his wife, Vivienne. He worked until the time of his death.

In 1942, with the Second World War underway, Marc joined the U.S. Marines as an officer candidate. After his training, he was shipped to the Pacific Theatre where he took part in the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa, leading Company G. He received a Bronze Star for his service on Okinawa.

On his return to the States after the war, Jaffe spent time in Provincetown, MA, where he co-owned a fishing boat, was a scallop fisherman and pursued writing before moving to New York in 1946.

Born on November 6, 1921, in Philadelphia, PA, Marc was blessed with an idyllic childhood as the second of three boys born to Lily Bailey Jaffe, a teacher and social worker, and Dr. Samuel Jaffe, a general practitioner, in Philadelphia. Marc and his two brothers attended the progressive Oak Lane Country Day School run by Temple University in Philadelphia, after which he entered Harvard College at the age of 16, majoring in literature and history.

His older brother by three years, David, became a successful psychiatrist in New York City, living until the age of 93. His younger brother by 13 months, Robert, had a long career as a neurologist in New York City at the Mt. Sinai Hospital. He died of complications from a fall at the age of 95. Marc took pride in the fact that his grandfather, who died at the age of 93, was the oldest Jewish farmer in the United States at that time.

Marc leaves a loving family consisting of his wife, Vivienne, their children: Eva (Peter) and Ben (Alex); his two children from his marriage to Grace Cohen: Nina (Bob), and David (Rachel); grandchildren: Louis (Lyndsey), Jacob, Jono, Sonia and Micah, Anna and Grace; sister-in-law Ruth, niece Ariana (Michael); former sister-in-law Pat and nephews Daniel (Cathy), Josh (Kathy), and Toby (Andrea) and their families.

The family will sit shiva afternoons from 4 to 6 through January 6. All are welcome. To add to the Book of Memories, please visit www.flynndagnolifuneralhomes.com