George H. Scithers, 1929 – 2010

Writer, editor, and publisher George H. Scithers, 80, died April 19, 2010 after suffering a massive heart attack on April 17.

Scithers first became active in the SF field in 1959 as editor of two-time Hugo winning fanzine Amra. He was the founding editor of Asimov’s when it launched in 1977, continuing there until 1982, and from 1982-86 edited Amazing Stories. In 1987 he revived Weird Tales with Darrell Schweitzer and John Betancourt, and in 2007 stopped editing the magazine actively, becoming editor emeritus. He founded specialty publisher Owlswick Press in 1973 and also edited numerous anthologies, most recently Cat Tales: Fantastic Feline Fiction (2008). He also wrote fiction, notably first genre story “Faithful Messenger” in If (1969) and spoof cookbook To Serve Man (inspired by Damon Knight’s eponymous story) under the name Karl Würf in 1976.

He was nominated for seven Hugos as a professional editor, winning in 1978 and 1980; was fan guest of honor at the 2001 Worldcon; won a special professional World Fantasy award in 1992 (with frequent collaborator Darrell Schweitzer); and received a World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2002.

The Encyclopedia of SF has more details.

See the May issue of Locus for a complete obituary.