Children’s Book Editor, Margaret K. McElderry, Dies at age 98

Children’s editor and publisher Margaret K. McElderry died yesterday at the age of 98.

According to Publishers Weekly, the legendary editor founded her own imprint at Simon & Schuster when Harcourt Brace forced her into early retirement in 1972. From PW:

Notable titles that McElderry published under that imprint include We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury; the final four volumes in The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper; The Maggie B. by Irene Haas; Yolonda’s Genius by Carol Fenner, which won a 1996 Newbery Honor; and The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw, which won a 1997 Newbery Honor. McElderry stepped down as editor-in-chief in 1998, when she was 86, but continued to contribute titles to the McElderry Books imprint for the next several years.

School Library Journal offers an affectionate remembrance here.