Literary 'superagent' Mort Janklow dies at 91

NEW YORK (AP) — Mort Janklow, a colorful former corporate attorney who raised high the power of the literary agent as he brokered big advances for publishing, political and entertainment leaders, from Ronald Reagan and Al Gore to David McCullough and Barbara Walters, has died.

Janklow died Wednesday of heart failure at his home in Water Mill, New York, just days before his 92nd birthday. His death was announced by publicist Paul Bogaards, speaking on behalf of Janklow's family and his literary agency, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

“Mort was a beacon of positivity and hope in an uncertain world,” his business partner Lynn Nesbit said in a statement. “He radiated optimism and his clients, family, and friends were always leaning on and learning from him as a result. He was a bright light in the publishing world, devoted to his writers and passionate about our business. We will all miss him.”

Janklow was among the first of the so-called “superagents,” and became one by accident, stepping in to help with a book by a legal client and old friend, the speechwriter and columnist William Safire, and quickly mastering his new profession. Janklow was credited, and faulted, for the proliferation of blockbuster books and million-dollar deals in the 1970s and beyond, for jolting a gentleman’s trade with a lawyerly savvy about marketing, subsidiary rights and the fine print of a publishing contract.

“Mort brought publishing people into the space age,” Simon & Schuster executive Joni Evans told New York magazine in 1987.

He was a great character — so energetic he would dictate dozens of letters a day; a fighter on the tennis court and in the boardroom, a schmoozer with large-framed glasses and monogrammed white shirts, a whirlwind with a mental directory of one-liners,...