Richard Shortway, the former Vogue publisher and senior Condé Nast executive, died of cancer on Monday night, aged 84.
Shortway published the US edition of Vogue from 1969 to 1987 before moving to London for a five-year stint at Condé Nast in which he launched British editions of GQ and Vanity Fair.
He was born on 17 February 1924 in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and served as a First Lieutenant with the United States Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, flying 31 missions over Nazi Germany.
In 1945, Shortway started his career in the publishing Industry with Womenswear Daily, the trade paper, and joined the advertising staff of Glamour magazine in 1950.
He rose to the position of advertising manager of Glamour and was appointed advertising director of Vogue magazine in 1962.
In 1969 he was named publisher of Vogue, a position he held until 1987. He was also vice president of Condé Nast Publications in New York and was responsible for both Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines.
In 1987, he moved to London as publishing director of British Vogue. During his five years in England, he also launched very successful editions of British GQ and the British edition of Vanity Fair.
Shortway then returned to the United States as vice president of Condé Nast International with overall US responsibility for 37 magazines. He retired in 1998 after 46 years with the publisher.
He was beloved by his friends as a raconteur with thousands of stories, jokes, and outrageous truths about the fashion business.
Shortway is survived by his wife Noreen O’Brien, his three children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
A funeral service is scheduled for 2pm on Saturday 15 November in Santa Monica, California. In lieu of flowers, Shortway’s family have asked for donations to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.
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