Cass Canfield, Publisher for Famous Writers, Dies

Cass Canfield, a book publisher, author and editor who produced works by such diverse writers as James Thurber, Thornton Wilder and John F. Kennedy, is dead of a heart ailment. He was 88.

Canfield, who was 88 when he died Thursday at his Manhattan home, joined Harper & Row, then Harper & Bros., in 1924. He served as president from 1931 to 1945, chairman of the board from 1945 to 1955, and chairman of the executive committee from 1955 to 1967, when he became senior editor.

He remained in that post until his death and, until suffering a stroke last September, went to his office regularly.

Canfield commanded great influence over the books and authors selected by the publishing company. Among the authors were many Pulitzer Prize winners, and included writers such as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert E. Sherwood and Adlai E. Stevenson.

“A good book, a book of quality, is the safest thing a publisher can take on,” he once said. “In the long run, this kind of book almost invariably finds a sufficient market so that it more than pays for itself.”

But he did not think of himself exclusively as a businessman. He once described his profession thus:

“I am a publisher--a hybrid creature: One part stargazer, one part gambler, one part businessman, one part midwife and three parts optimist.”

Canfield attended Harvard and studied at Oxford. After graduation and a world tour--on which he retraced the route of Marco Polo--he worked as a feature writer for the New York Post.

During World War II he served with the Office of War Information and became acquainted with many government officials for whom he would later serve as editor and publisher. Among them were Allen Dulles, Sumner Welles, Mrs. Roosevelt and James F. Byrnes. He later produced Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage” and Theodore Sorensen’s biography, “Kennedy.”

One of his most consuming nonpublishing concerns was birth control. As an official of the Planned Parenthood Federation, he traveled and raised money for the cause.

Canfield was an author himself. His books include “The Publishing Experience,” “Up and Down and Around,” “The Incredible Pierpont Morgan,” “The Iron Will of Jefferson Davis,” “Outrageous Fortunes” and “The Six.”

In “Up and Down and Around,” his 1971 memoirs, he said among the principal qualities a publisher should have is receptiveness. “He should take an interest in almost any subject and remain anonymous, letting the author take center stage.”