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WALTER J. BLACK
Walter Joseph Black was born May 12, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, son of Loring Milton (1854-1927) and Elizabeth Mahoney Black (1854-1935). Loring Black was a lawyer. Walter married Elsie J. Jantzer on November 6, 1918. Elsie was born July 4, 1892 in New York, daughter of Theodore and Louisa Foeller Jantzer. Walter and Elsie had a son, Theodore Milton Michael "Ted" Black, (October 3, 1919 - March 19, 1994). In 1916 and 1917, Walter was Secretary to Colonel George Brinton McClellan Harvey, publisher of Harper's Magazine. Walter then lived at 272 West 90th Street in New York. He started in the publishing business in 1923, reportedly with $600 his wife had saved out of his salary. In 1930 the Blacks lived at 24 Oxford Boulevard in Garden City, Nassau, New York. In 1940 the Blacks lived at the Hotel Roosevelt in Garden City. Walter died April 16, 1958. Elsie died July 5, 1963.  Theodore M. Black, circa 1942
New York Times, March 21, 1994
Theodore M. Black Is Dead at 74; Headed New York Regents Board Theodore M. Black, a book publishing executive and former Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, died on Saturday at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, L.I. Mr. Black, who lived in Port Washington, L.I., was 74. He had been ill with liver and kidney problems, said his son, Walter J. Black 2d. Mr. Black served on the Board of Regents, the state's highest education policy-making body, starting in 1969, and was its Chancellor from 1975 to 1980. In his five years in the unsalaried post he was credited with strengthening the Chancellor's office by exercising firm control over the 15-member board and over the State Education Department. During his tenure he sought to toughen the curriculums of public schools, colleges and universities in the state, and enforce greater discipline within the institutions themselves. He was fearful that Federal funds would undermine the independence of state and local schools, and in 1979 he began abstaining from voting on any issue that involved requests for or acceptance of Federal money. For many years he was president of Walter J. Black, Inc., a publishing company founded by his father. The company specializes in reprints of popular titles, and issues books in the Classics Club, the Detective Book Club and the Giants of Literature series, among others. Mr. Black was born in Brooklyn. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in the class of 1941, of which he was valedictorian. He enlisted in the Army in October 1941, and was promoted to the rank of captain, serving in the Third Armored Division in Europe, receiving several decorations. Mr. Black began with his father's company after his discharge from the Army in 1945. He served in the Army reserves for 22 years, retiring as a reserve lieutenant colonel in 1967. Mr. Black went into World War II as a Democrat but came out as a Republican. He rose in the party to become a Nassau County Republican Committeeman and a delegate to the 1967 Constitutional Convention. He resigned from the Republican party upon his election to the Board of Regents, to distance himself from partisan politics. After leaving the board he returned to the party and again became active politically in Nassau County, most recently as chairman of the party's Chairmen's Club. Mr. Black was elected a vice president of Walter J. Black in 1952, became president in 1958 and still held the title of chairman at the time of his death. In 1982 he founded his own consulting company, giving advice to schools, colleges and local governments. He was the author of "Straight Talk About American Education," published in 1982. Mr. Black is survived by his wife, Barbara of Port Washington; two sons, T. Michael Black Jr., also of Port Washington, and Walter of Glen Cove, L.I., and 11 grandchildren. |
New York Times, April 17, 1958
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Brooklyn Life, November 16, 1918
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Brooklyn Life, December 8, 1917
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NC Catholics, June 2012
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L. William "Bill" Black
Part of an interview with Black from July 2003, found at directmarketingiq.com. "As president of Black & Co., a consulting firm serving the publishing and direct marketing industries, Bill Black has worked with virtually all major book and magazine publishers. Throughout his many years of service to both industries, Black has crystallized a reputation for being the foremost authority on fulfillment. Black's first-hand fulfillment knowledge was gleaned from being owner and marketer of "The Classics of Golf" for a number of years... "Q: How did you get into the fulfillment business? "A: I got into the fulfillment "business" when I went to work for my cousin's mail-order book publishing business, Walter J. Black, Inc., as marketing manager. Eventually I became CEO, and fulfillment, of course, was part of the job. I went to work there right out of college because my cousin's top aide fell out of a canoe and drowned. Publishing is, after all, the "accidental profession." |