Adrienne Vaughan obit

Harry Potter publisher Adrienne Vaughan dies in tragic boat accident in Italy

 

She was not on the list.

The 45-year-old woman was visiting Italy with her husband and two children when she fell overboard during a boat accident off the Amalfi coast.

Adrienne Vaughan, the 45-year-old president of the Bloomsbury USA publishing house, was killed in a boat accident off the Amalfi coast in Italy, local media reports.

Vaughan became head of Bloomsbury USA, which publishes the Harry Potter books in America, in September 2021.

She was on holiday in Italy with her family - including her husband Mike White and their children Leanna and Mason, 12 and 8 - when she was involved in a boat crash in waters near Naples.

Vaughan and her family had rented out a nine-metre speedboat to explore the gulf when the vessel collided with a 45-metre sailboat named “Tortuga,” which was carrying some 80 people, including German and American tourists who were celebrating a wedding on board.

According to local media, Vaughan fell into the water and was hit by the boat’s propeller, receiving fatal injuries.

While rescuers immediately reached the scene and brought Vaughan to land for medical treatment, she was pronounced dead before she could be taken to a hospital by helicopter.

Her husband, who had also fallen into the water, reported an injury in an arm, according to Italian media, but survived after being taken to a local hospital.

The children were not injured in the accident, though they were reportedly panicked and distressed at seeing their mother in the water.

Prosecutors in Salerno, the area where the incident happened, have opened an investigation into the incident. A drugs test of the skipper who was driving the boat Vaughan hired proved positive for drugs and alcohol, according to Italian media.

In a joint statement sent to Publishing Perspectives this afternoon from The Association of American Publishers, WW Norton president Julia Reidhead, who is AAP’s board chair, and AAP president and CEO Maria A. Pallante, say, “Adrienne Vaughan was a leader of dazzling talent and infectious passion and had a deep commitment to authors and readers.

“She was elected to the AAP board of directors this year and made an immediate positive impact, speaking as a featured leader at our annual member meeting and participating with purpose on our diversity, equity, and inclusion committee.

“Most of all she was an extraordinary human being, and those of us who had the opportunity to work with her will be forever fortunate.