Ed Victor

Edward Victor (9 September 1939 – 7 June 2017) was an American-born British literary agent, based, for most of his career, in London, England.

Early life and education Victor was born on 9 September 1939, in Bronx, New York City. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, who ran a photographic equipment store, he went to Bayside High School in the borough of Queens, later earning a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. After graduating, he attended Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, on a Marshall Scholarship in 1961.

Career

Publishing editor Victor married Michelene Samuels, the writer, in 1963; the couple made their home in London and had two children. Victor worked for the Oborne Press, a publishing house, then part of Lord Beaverbrook's Express Newspapers group. He then worked on coffee table books for Weidenfeld & Nicolson. After approaching George Weidenfeld in the toilet, Victor was moved to general publishing, looking after the works of Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov. with Oz founders Felix Dennis and Richard Neville. Victor was one of the first former journalist/editors to make the move to be a publishing agent, when in the 1970s literary agents were not welcomed by British publishers. However, many changed their minds when Victor's first sale in 1976 was for the book and film rights to Stephen Shephard's novel The Four Hundred for $1.5 million. In 2005, Victor's client John Banville won the Booker Prize. The following day Victor sold Eric Clapton's memoirs for $4 million. In 2003, Victor and his wife were named second on Tatler's list of the most invited guests in London, behind Elton John. In September 2016, it was reported that David Cameron had signed with Victor to write his memoirs.

He celebrated the 40th anniversary of his literary agency, Ed Victor Ltd, in November 2016.

Personal life With his second wife, Carol Ryan, Victor lived mainly in London, with a secondary home in the Hamptons on Long Island, in the United States. The couple had a son, Ryan, while Victor had sons, Adam and Ivan, from his first marriage to Michelene Wandor.

Victor was vice chairman of the board of directors of the Almeida Theatre, a Trustee of the Arts Foundation and of the Hay Festival, as well as a founding director of the Groucho Club.

Death On 7 June 2017, while suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Victor died from a heart attack.

Selected clients From official website

Douglas Adams (Estate) John Banville Johanna Basford Candice Bergen Carl Bernstein Max Brooks Mel Brooks Tina Brown Alastair Campbell Raymond Chandler (Estate) Eric Clapton Sophie Dahl Joe Eszterhas Sir Harold Evans Rupert Everett Sir Ranulph Fiennes Frederick Forsyth James Fox Mark Frost A. A. Gill Charles Glass Julian Glover Annabel Goldsmith Geordie Greig Josephine Hart (Estate) Jack Higgins Will Hutton Dylan Jones Nigella Lawson Kathy Lette Natascha McElhone Andrew Marr Iris Murdoch (Estate) Richard Neville Edna O'Brien Ben Okri Roman Polanski Frederic Raphael Keith Richards Ruth Rogers Lisa St Aubin de Terán Gerald Scarfe Sir Stephen Spender (Estate) Pamela Stephenson Peter Stothard Pete Townshend Irving Wallace (Estate) Tim Waterstone Lord Lloyd Webber U2