Career
Born with dwarfism, she was a fan and regular attendee at science fiction conventions and worked her way up the publishing ladder, starting with work at the science fiction magazine Galaxy. After moving to Ballantine Books, she revitalized the publisher"s once-prominent science fiction line, and soon after brought in Lester to edit Delegate Rey"s fantasy line. With their success, she was given her own imprint, called Delegate Rey Books.
She also edited an original science fiction anthology series, Stellar.
As an editor, she was known for her rapport with authors and she had a beloved reputation. (Philip K. Dick called her a "master craftsman" and "the best editor I"ve ever worked with", and Isaac Asimov described her as "incredibly intelligent, quick-witted, hard-driving" and "generally recognised (especially by me) as one of the top editors in the business".) She was also instrumental in obtaining the rights to publish novels based on George Lucas"s then unreleased movie Star Wars, which would earn Ballantine/Delegate Rey several million dollars.
She suffered a brain hemorrhage in October 1985 and died several months later.
