Career
He has been called "one of publishing"s hall of fame editors."
Many of Loomis" authors had worked with him for decades, including Maya Angelou, who wrote 31 books under his editorship, beginning her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). His authors" loyalty to him and him to them was almost legendary. Loomis represented "the classic mold of the editor" and according to Random House, he "embodied the ideal of an old-fashioned editor: understated, but uncanny.
Polite, but persistent".
I don"t know anybody as fierce, simply fierce, but he"s as tender as he"s tough." He was well known as a mentor to editors and writers in all areas of the publishing industry. Other notable authors who have been edited by Loomis include Calvin Trillin, Edmund Morris (who wrote Dutch, the "controversial" biography of United States President Ronald Reagan), Shelby Foote, Jonathan Harr, and anchorman Jim Lehrer.
Loomis and author William Styron had known each other since they were both students at Duke University, where Loomis was Styron"s editor at Duke"s student magazine. Loomis went on to edit all of Styron"s books except Lie Down in Darkness, his first novel.
Loomis is married to Hilary Mills, who wrote a biography about Norman Mailer.
He is a certified pilot.
