Robert B Silvers, editor of New York Review of Books, dies aged 87

Revered New York Review of Books editor Robert B Silvers, who served as founding editor of the magazine for more than 53 years, died on Monday morning.

Silvers, 87, died “after a short illness”, according to a statement from the Review.

The publication he created commissioned the biggest and best writers in the world, ranging from WH Auden, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal in its very first issue in 1963, to Zadie Smith, JM Coetzee and Vivian Gornick in some of the most recent.

“There were many things that made Bob a brilliant editor,” Review publisher Rea Hederman said via email.

“But one trait of his that I particularly admired was his ability to know which subject outside a contributor’s main interest would particularly interest that contributor. For example he knew that Stephen Jay Gould, the late well-known paleontologist and historian of science, loved baseball. He commissioned Gould to write about a half-dozen pieces on baseball, in addition to his pieces on evolution and other matters of science,” Hederman wrote.

Hederman noted that Silvers had been working as editor until two weeks before his death.

Silvers and a group of his literary peers created the high-brow publication during the newspaper strike of 1963. As he explained in a 2014 interview with the Guardian, they decided to publish whatever they found fascinating without commercial or readership interference:

When we started, our publisher said we should have a survey to find out what readers want. But Barbara [Barbara Epstein worked as co-editor with Silvers until her death in 2006] and I both said, no, we must pick the subjects and writers we believe in; we won’t take dictation. If it’s interesting, people will go on subscribing. If it’s not, they’ll say: to hell with it.

Martin Scorsese directed a 2014 documentary about the New York Review of Books in its 50th year, starring Silvers.

“Robert Silvers was a powerhouse, and right up to the last minute he showed no signs of letting up. His energy seemed limitless, and it was powered by his belief in the power of engaged thought to change the world. With The New York Review of Books, he gave us one of our greatest and most lasting institutions: an arena of free thought. Right now, more than ever, we need the Review,” Scorsese said in a statement.

“And we need Bob’s spirit, the best of which he transmitted to his colleagues and friends and readers. He was my friend, and it’s going to be quite some time before I’ll be able to accept the fact that he’s gone,” added the film director.

Silvers’ former assistants also rose to journalistic acclaim, including AO Scott, the New York Times chief film critic, who paid tribute to his former boss on Twitter:

Laura Marsh, literary editor at the New Republic and a former editor at the New York Review of Books, honored Silvers:

The new editor of the Review has yet to be announced.