Bernard J. Geis

Bernard J. Geis (August 30, 1909 – January 8, 2001) was an American editor and publisher who founded the now-defunct Bernard Geis Associates, which published and promoted several best-sellers in the 1960s and 70s, including Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls and Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl and David Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade.

Biography Early life Geis was born in Chicago on August 30, 1909, the youngest son of Harry Geis, a cigar manufacturer. Geis was an editor for Northwestern University's school newspaper in 1931. and Prentice Hall. While at Grosset & Dunlap, Geis suggested the name of their paperback arm, Bantam Books. Backers included Linkletter, Groucho Marx, and television producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.

Geis focused heavily on promotion of books. Letty Cottin Pogrebin, his head of publicity from 1960 to 1970, told the New York Times, "[Geis] made authors into celebrities and celebrities into authors. Other publishers were very buttoned-down, and believed it was a gentleman's profession."

Geis published Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, which went on to spend 65 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. and a number of partners including Linkletter, Groucho Marx, Goodson and Todman backed out over The Exhibitionist by Henry Sutton (a pseudonym for novelist David R. Slavitt).

Time Inc. sued and then lost a lawsuit against Bernard Geis Associates, Random House and author Josiah Thompson in 1968. Thompson authored the book, Six Seconds in Dallas, which examined the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The book included sketches of pictures in Life Magazine which were photos of stills taken from the Zapruder film which Time, Inc. owned. The judges ruled in favor of Thomson and Geis saying that "There is public interest in having the fullest information available on the murder of President Kennedy. Thompson did serious work on the subject and has a theory entitled to public consideration. The book is not bought because it contained the Zapruder pictures; the book is bought because of the theory of Thompson and its explanation supported by the Zapruder pictures.

Geis Associates filed for bankruptcy protection in 1971. The company's books were later published under the Geis imprint for other publishing houses up until 1995.

Marriage and children Bernard Geis was married to author and editor Darlene Geis (April 8, 1917 - March 25, 1999), who died in a fire at her home in Manhattan.

Darlene Geis was the author of a number of popular books for young readers including The Little Train That Won a Medal (Wonder Books, Grosset & Dunlap, 1947), which sold more than 3 million copies, The Mystery of The Thirteenth Floor (The John C. Winston Company, 1953), Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals (Grosset & Dunlap, 1959) or The How and Why Wonder Book of Dinosaurs (1960, How and Why Wonder Books, reedited several times between 1960 and 1987 and translated into several languages). Darlene Geis was also a senior editor for Harry N. Abrams beginning in 1969 where she edited and wrote books for Disney including "Treasury of Children's Classics" and "The Fantasia Book."

Bernard and Darlene Geis had two sons: Peter and Stephen Geis.

Death Bernard Geis died at New York Presbyterian Hospital on January 8, 2001, aged 91.