Giant who championed Satanic Verses
THE son of a glove manufacturer, Peter Mayer was expected to take over the family business but declined, telling his father there was no future in it. He turned out to be correct: his father would later file for bankruptcy and work for him.
Instead Mayer chose a different path, running Penguin Books for almost 20 years and becoming the most successful publisher of his generation.
Born in London, Mayer’s family had emigrated to New York in 1939. A decorated scholar he enrolled at Columbia University, then spent a year at Oxford University. He also undertook a graduate fellowship at Indiana University followed by a Fulbright scholarship in Berlin.
In his youth he served in the US Merchant Marine and lived briefly in Spain before taking a job at Orion Press in 1961 as an editorial assistant. By the next year Mayer began a 14-year tenure at Avon Books, rising through the ranks to become the company’s publisher.
In the 1970s he became publisher and president of Pocket Books before taking on the role in 1978 as chairman and chief executive at Penguin Group. When he started the firm was floundering but by the time he left in 1997 it was one of the most recognisable brands in the world, making a multimillion pound profit. But it was no easy feat.
Staff cuts, including the company chauffeur (Mayer drove himself), was one of the changes he made. He also insisted on joining colleagues in the staff canteen.
Known for pushing boundaries Mayer famously fell out of favour with Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini after publishing Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses in 1988.
Mayer was caught in the crossfire after a fatwa was issued to kill the author and received death threats, forcing the firm to increase security.
Sticking to his principles Mayer continued with the publication of the paperback edition, commenting: “Once you say I won’t publish a book because someone doesn’t like it… you’re finished.”
Mayer married literary agent Mary Hall in 1980 but divorced in 1991. After Penguin he ran his own publishing firm Overlook Press, of which he remained president until his death. He died due to complications from amyloidosis and is survived by his partner Sophy Thomson and daughter Liese.