Leslie George Katz

Leslie George Katz (c. 1918 – April 18, 1997) was an author and publisher who founded Eakins Press, a specialty publisher of books of art and literature.

Biography Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Katz attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he met his future wife Jane Mayhall. The two married in the 1940s and moved to New York City. As husband and wife, they were active participants in New York's bohemian community starting in the 1950s, and became friendly with many of the prominent artists at the time.

Over the course of his career, Katz wrote for publications ranging from Classic Comics to The Nation. He wrote speeches for Adlai Stevenson and created plays for a Brooklyn community center. Katz was also a board member of Yaddo, the artists' community located on an estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Another of the early books was Message From the Interior, a collection of photographs by Walker Evans, who was best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration that captured the effects of the Great Depression.

Death Katz died at age 78 on April 18, 1997, in his home in Manhattan, due to cancer. He was survived by his wife and a brother, the jazz pianist Dick Katz.