Ellis Amburn, publisher, author and editor, died on Saturday after a long illness. He was 85.
Amburn was a reporter at Newsweek before becoming an editor at Delacorte Press, Coward-McCann, William Morrow and Putnam, where he edited work by such authors as John le Carré, Belva Plain, Muriel Spark, Joshua Logan and Jack Kerouac. He also worked as a ghostwriter with Priscilla Presley, Shelley Winters, Peggy Lee and Zsa Zsa Gabor. In 1990, he wrote a biography of Roy Orbison, which led to other books, including biographies of Jack Kerouac, Olivia de Havilland, Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, Buddy Holly and Janis Joplin.
Maureen O'Brien, book editor, ghostwriter, publishing advisor and "major media journalista" who can be reached at maureenob@aol.com, remembered: "Always the chipper man about town and cheerleader to his multitude of friends all over the world, Ellis was writing and editing right up to the end, working on a memoir of his celebrity-filled life in the book biz, where he was considered one of the best pop culture chroniclers from New York City to Hollywood and all points in between. A great gossip and even better confidant and friend, he was a true role model and mentor."