William Garry, the long-time editor in chief of Bon Appetit, died yesterday at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from complications relating to lung cancer. He was 56 years old and had been the editor since 1985.
He began at the magazine when it was still owned by Knapp Communications and stayed in the top spot after it was sold, along with Architectural Digest, to the Newhouse family’s Conde Nast Publications in 1993 for $170 million.
In a message distributed to staffers, Conde Nast Chairman S.I. Newhouse Jr. said, “Many of you will remember Bill as an intelligent and witty editor of a highly successful magazine; he was also a man of extraordinary warmth and comprehension.
“His equal skills as a writer were captured in his monthly letter from the editor, which he made into a widely-followed forum for his original and sometimes contrarian ideas about everything from food to philosophy. Like all great editors, Bill combined the journalistic and personal into a seamless whole.”
He had also worked at Hearst Magazines on House Beautiful, Home Decorating, Colonial Homes, Home Remodeling and Gardening & Outdoor Living as well at the old CBS Magazines where he was an executive editor on Epicure.