Gloria Ferris, the former London literary agent whose career spanned 50 years and who co-founded Scott Ferris Associates, died October 3, the Bookseller reported. She was 84. Ferris worked for Doubleday beginning in the late 1960s, taking over from Barbara Noble as London rights manager in the mid-1970s. By 1980, she was managing director at Quartet Books, and then set up the London agency with Rivers Scott, former literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph, after they met in 1981. They ran the company together until his death in 2014.
Nick Kent, managing director for Peter Owen Publishers, commented: "Not only had she a reputation as a formidable publishing agent, she was a wonderful friend, an excellent host, cook and dining companion.... She will be greatly missed by her many friends."