Charles Scribner Jr. ’43

Charley died Nov. 11, 1995, of pneumonia. He was 74. He had suffered from a degenerative neurological disorder for a decade that hindered his ability to read and write.

Born in Long Island, he grew up in New Jersey, attended St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., and graduated from Princeton summa cum laude. Charley served as a Navy cryptanalyst during WWII and the Korean War.

He succeeded his father in 1952 as chief of the family publishing house, Charles Scribner's Sons, founded in 1846 by his great-grandfather. Charley served in that capacity for the next 32 years, until the firm was acquired by another publishing giant, Macmillan. Among many other notable accomplishments, Charley was Ernest Hemingway's editor and publisher in the latter stages of the writer's career. In addition, Scribner's Sons published fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald '17, Thomas Wolfe, and James Jones.

Charley was a trustee of Princeton from 1969-79, president of the Princeton Univ. Press from 1965-78, and president of an industry group, the American Book Publishers Council, from 1966-68.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, the former Joan Sunderland; three sons, Charles III, Blair S., and John; and two grandchildren. To the entire family, we extend our heartfelt sympathies.

The Class of 1943