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- BUSINESS, Page 84Business NotesPUBLISHINGHe Hates Long Goodbyes
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- They hardly knew what hit them. That describes the ouster
- of legendary staffers who have lived out their usefulness to Si
- Newhouse, chairman of his family's publishing conglomerate. In
- 1987 William Shawn was suddenly removed as editor of the New
- Yorker after 35 years. Last year fashion doyenne Grace Mirabella
- was dethroned from the editorship at Vogue after 17 years;
- reportedly, she first learned the news of her dismissal from a
- friend who heard it on TV.
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- Last week another eminent employee was cleaning out his
- desk. Robert Bernstein, who in 23 years as head of Random House
- helped build it into the largest trade-book publisher in the
- U.S., abruptly announced his resignation. It was only three
- years ago that he said, "I want to be a publisher until I'm
- carried out." Bernstein, 66, insists he had no falling out with
- Newhouse. But to industry insiders the decision seemed all the
- more sudden because no replacement was named for the
- high-powered position.
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