Gary Urda Obituary, New York Death; SVP of Sales at Simon & Schuster, Dies at 59; Gary Urda, Senior Vice President of Sales at Simon & Schuster, passed away on the morning of June 24 after collapsing at the gym. He was 59.
S&S CEO Jonathan Karp conveyed the sad news to Urda’s colleagues in a note, describing Urda as “the best kind of colleague—engaged, thoughtful, attentive, constructive, upbeat, humorous, warm, and always approachable, personable, and capable.” Karp praised Urda as “a quintessential sales executive, with a deep knowledge of our industry. He cared about our books and all of the people selling them and was himself a terrific reader, with a particular expertise in thrillers.”
Urda joined Simon & Schuster in 1996 as VP of Sales Development at Pocket Books before being promoted to VP of Direct Sales. In 2003, he became VP and Director of Distributor Sales and Retail Management for all of S&S. In 2005, he moved to S&S’s Atria Books as VP and Associate Publisher, where he helped catapult books like “The Secret” and authors like Vince Flynn and Brad Thor to bestseller status. He returned to the sales division in 2008. Urda was named SVP of Sales in 2017 following the retirement of Michael Selleck, and he joined the S&S executive committee, reporting to then CEO Carolyn Reidy and COO Dennis Eulau. As SVP of Sales, Urda oversaw all sales areas within S&S’s sales division.
Before joining S&S, Urda was VP of Wholesale Sales at Bantam Books and Director of Sales at Lightning Source, working with trade and university presses. He held an MBA from Lehigh University and a BSBA from Villanova. Urda was also the author of two children’s books, “Love You More” and “Daddy and Me,” both published by Little Bee.
Throughout his career, Urda managed sales in nearly every sales channel and adapted S&S’s strategies to changes in its customer base and consumer reading habits. Karp credited Urda as “the not-so-secret ingredient to so much of our success as a company.”
Plans to honor Urda’s memory are still being made. He leaves behind a wife and two sons, with whom he lived on Long Island.
