Robert Silvers

Robert Silvers, a longtime editor of The New York Review of Books, died March 20, 2017, according to multiple news sources. He was 87.

The New York Review of Books announced on Twitter that Silvers died Monday morning at his home in Manhattan and then confirmed his death to The Associated Press.

Silvers helped found the literary journal in 1963 with Barbara Epstein. They started the biweekly magazine during the New York newspaper strike of 1963.

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Silvers was born Dec. 31, 1929, in Mineola, New York. His mother, Rose, was a music critic for the New York Globe and one of the first female radio hosts for RCA. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1947.

Silvers served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and worked as a press aide. He became friends with the writer George Plimpton and became the managing editor for Plimpton’s The Paris Review. He was then an associate editor of Harper’s Magazine before moving on to The New York Review of Books.

The Review publishes long-form reviews and essays, usually by well-known writers, along with original poetry. Esquire called it "the premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language.”

Silvers co-edited the magazine with Epstein until her death in 2006. After that, Silvers became the sole editor.

Author Louis Begley wrote, "the ideal editor of my – and I would guess every writer’s – dreams is ... Robert B. Silvers, the editor, brain, and heart of the NYRB. When I write a piece for his magazine, of course, I have the immeasurable good luck to be edited by him. There is no experience quite like it. Bob knows everything that's worth knowing, a consequence of his unflagging curiosity."

In 2011, the National Book Critics Circle gave Silvers the Ivan Sandrof Award for lifetime achievement.