Andr� Schiffrin was born in Paris, France on June 14, 1935. He received a degree in history from Yale University in 1957 and a master's degree from Clare College, Cambridge University in 1959, where he became the first American to edit Granta, the school's literary journal. He started working for Pantheon Books in 1962. He became editor in chief in 1963 and managing director in 1969. He was fired in 1990 for a dispute over chronic losses and his refusal to accept cutbacks and other changes. In 1992, he founded the New Press with Diane Wachtell. He was the editor in chief for more than a decade and remained as founding director and editor at large until his death. He also wrote several… books during his lifetime including The Business of Books: How International Conglomerates Took over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read, A Political Education: Growing Up in Paris and New York, and Words and Money. He died of pancreatic cancer on December 1, 2013 at the age of 78.