John Ferrone, an editor who shepherded Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Color Purple" into print, encouraged Anaïs Nin to publish her erotic fiction, and served as James Beard's dining and cooking companion and literary executor, died in Old Bridge, N.J., on April 10. He was 91.

The cause was complications of Parkinson's disease, his niece Kathy Barnes said. Mr. Ferrone spent more than 35 years in publishing in a variety of editorial roles. He began his career at Dell, where he was involved in acquiring well-known titles for reprinting in the relatively new mass paperback and trade paperback formats.

Read more

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/