Esmond Harmsworth, one of North America’s leading literary agents for business, entrepreneurship and management books, has died while on holiday in Mauritius. He was 57.
A half uncle of the 4th Viscount Rothermere, chairman of Daily Mail and General Trust plc, Esmond lived in Boston in the US, where he had a hugely successful business representing authors from across the publishing spectrum.
His clients included the New York Times bestseller and the number one Wall Street Journal business bestseller Breakthrough: Secrets of America’s Fastest Growing Companies by Keith McFarland; Amanda Ripley’s New York Times bestseller The Smartest Kids in the World – And How They Got That Way; and Michelle Hoover’s acclaimed 2016 literary novel Bottomland.
Born in London, he was the son of Esmond, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, by his third marriage to Texas oil heiress Mary Murchison.
Esmond Harmsworth, one of North America’s leading literary agents for business, entrepreneurship and management books, has died at 57
He was named after his father and was a half-brother of Vere, the 3rd Viscount. He was educated at Eton and Brown University in America from where he graduated magna cum laude in history and history of art.
From 1992 to 1995 he studied at Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude.
He was a founding partner of the former Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency which in 2016 merged with Kuhn Projects to form Aevitas Creative of which Esmond was president.
Each year he sponsored the Esmond Harmsworth lecture at Oxford University’s Rothermere American Institute.
With his husband Jerome, Esmond was the father of two children, Alfred and Lilly. The family also have an American country house.
