We were saddened to learn that Rusty Drugan, executive director of the
New England Independent Booksellers Association since 1992, died last
Thursday. He was 59 and had announced last August that he would resign
for health reasons.
Officially Wayne A. Drugan, Jr., Rusty had been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and from 1977 to 1992 worked at Reading International, once one of the many bookstores in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., and was vice president. He also served as a Republican Election Commissioner for Cambridge.
Rusty helped build NEBA (now NEIBA) into a highly regarded regional booksellers association with a strong organization, a solid range of programs and sound finances. He especially enjoyed discussing politics, whether in the industry or nationally, both which unintentionally provided him a lot of amusement. He spoke guardedly about being a Republican in the book world, and in one of the last e-mails we received from him, he lamented that moderate Republicans were becoming increasingly rare--he was struck that the last election resulted in all but one congressional seat in New England going to Democrats.
We'll miss Rusty, particularly having long conversations either on the phone or at many ABAs and BEAs, where he loved both catching up on--and providing--gossip.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, Pancreatic Cancer Research, 30 Speen St., Framingham, Mass. 01701. A funeral will be held in his home state of North Dakota, but a memorial will be held in January in New England.
Officially Wayne A. Drugan, Jr., Rusty had been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and from 1977 to 1992 worked at Reading International, once one of the many bookstores in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., and was vice president. He also served as a Republican Election Commissioner for Cambridge.
Rusty helped build NEBA (now NEIBA) into a highly regarded regional booksellers association with a strong organization, a solid range of programs and sound finances. He especially enjoyed discussing politics, whether in the industry or nationally, both which unintentionally provided him a lot of amusement. He spoke guardedly about being a Republican in the book world, and in one of the last e-mails we received from him, he lamented that moderate Republicans were becoming increasingly rare--he was struck that the last election resulted in all but one congressional seat in New England going to Democrats.
We'll miss Rusty, particularly having long conversations either on the phone or at many ABAs and BEAs, where he loved both catching up on--and providing--gossip.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, Pancreatic Cancer Research, 30 Speen St., Framingham, Mass. 01701. A funeral will be held in his home state of North Dakota, but a memorial will be held in January in New England.