R. Wayne Oler

Textbook publishing giant R. Wayne Oler dies.

R. Wayne Oler, a giant in the field of academic and health-sciences textbooks and the former president and CEO of Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, has died.

His daughter, Victoria Lee Solomon, said he died of complications from a stroke on April 7th. He and his late wife, Meriam, lived in Incline Village, Nevada, for the last decade and leave behind many friends in the Lake Tahoe community.

Oler was born on Aug. 16, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland.

He joined the Navy in 1955 when he was only 16 by having his brother forge their mother’s signature. He became a corpsman at the Field Medicine School in Del Mar, California before heading off to the 2nd air wing Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan. He left the Navy in 1958 after he refused a Navy flight commission because he would not be guaranteed jets.

Oler started at the University of Georgia medical school in 1959 as a pre-med student. He once said that he left because he did not like the way cadavers or animals were treated.

Oler loved boats, hiking and tennis almost as much as he loved his late wife, Meriam, his little dog, Sophie Tucker, poetry and literature. He will always be remembered as a renaissance man who was eager to help others in their professional careers.

“He had a great eye for identifying and nurturing talent, which led to a wide network of friends and colleagues who came to him for help and support throughout his life,” said friend and former publishing colleague, Jack Jennings.

Wherever the Olers lived, Jennings said – whether the big cities of New York, Boston and San Francisco or the smaller towns of Marblehead, Mass., as well as Woodside, Calistoga and Incline Village in Nevada – he would become part the community and make friends from all walks of life.

“Wayne always made time to listen and support his friends,” he said. “There must be hundreds of former colleagues who remember Wayne as being instrumental in their career development.”

Oler started his publishing career as “college traveler” sales representative for Harper & Row; he then moved up as chemistry editor in the publishing house’s New York headquarters. He would go on to help found Canfield Press with Jennings in San Francisco, becoming editor-in-chief at the textbook firm.

“Wayne solidified our staff at Canfield, bringing in more good editors, projects and personally publishing some highly successful titles, which became longtime bestsellers, still in print today,” Jennings said.

Among those bestselling textbooks was, “Principles of Anatomy and Physiology,” by Gerald J. Tortora and Bryan Derrickson, which is now in its 11th edition.

Oler then became publisher at Benjamin Cummings, an Addison-Wesley company in San Francisco that included many world-renown authors such as Nobel Laureate James Watson, a molecular biologist and geneticist who was one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA.

“This was right up Wayne’s alley, since his first love was science,” said Jennings.

While at BC, he also worked on two textbooks that have been popular bestsellers for years, “Using Information Technology,” by Brian Williams and Stacey Sawyer, and “Anatomy and Physiology,” by Elaine Marib.

He would then become president and CEO of Addison-Wesley, one of the world’ premier science and technology publishers.

“Wayne worked with Nobel laureate science authors and yet was a patient and persistent coach with developing novice authors,” said Jennings. “He was also creative, seeing the potential for an anatomy coloring book and willing to take risks with authors and ideas.”

Oler was also president and CEO of International Thomson Publishing’s Higher Education Group and was on the advisory board of Mainstream Communications Inc. He was also CEO of Krames Communications, a leading publisher of consumer-oriented medical and safety materials.

Oler was also the founding director of Course Technology, Inc., the first publisher to integrate textbooks with software, and served as a director and executive committee member for the Association of American Publishers.

“He brought energy to all that he did,” said another friend and publishing colleague, Larry Jones. “Wayne didn’t let things happen; he made things happen and every publishing organization he worked for benefitted from that energy, dedication and intelligence.”

After retiring from the publishing world, Oler served on several boards and supported many businesses that would support technology and education.

“Being a publisher for Wayne was not a job or a position; it was a ‘vocation’ in his life,” said Bain Capital Ventures’ John Connolly, who worked with Oler at Addison-Wesley and other publishing houses. “He discovered teachers doing exciting things in the classroom and helped capture that excitement through the development of textbooks for the masses.”

Oler also turned to venture capital after he retired from publishing.

“Throughout his career Wayne coached many young entrepreneurs and made angel investments in some of the better ones,” said an old friend and venture capitalist Barry Weinman.

To honor Oler, there will be a celebration of his life on May 24, from 1:00-4:00 p.m., at the Tahoe Yacht Club. If you can attend this celebration, please RSVP to Mariana Dye at gm@ tahoeyc.com or (530) 581-4700.

Friends and family are invited to attend another celebration later this summer at the Alpine Hills Tennis & Swimming Club in Portola Valley, Calif., on June 20 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Please RSVP to Alpine Hills, 650-851-1591.

He is survived by his daughter, Victoria Lee Solomon and her husband, Ronald Hal Solomon II; their two children, Kyle and Cody Solomon; and his brother, Charles R. Oler.

“As you know, Wayne loved all dogs; in particular his best little friend, Sophie Tucker. In lieu of flowers, you may wish to donate to one of the organizations he supported,” his daughter said.

She suggested the Pet Network Humane Society in Incline Village and the Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek.