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| Michael Holdsworth | |
Academic publisher Michael Holdsworth, best known for his work at Cambridge University Press between 1983 and 2006, died September 9, the Bookseller reported. An announcement sent to press staff said Holdsworth's "relatively early death at the age of 73 will come as a sadness to many, but his legacy here will be long-lived." Staff remembered him for his love of ornithology, in which he took a scientific interest, attending the ballet and adventurous travel.
Holdsworth, who also worked at Allen & Unwin during his career, was described by Cambridge University Press as "arguably the strongest publishing presence in the entire organization with a well-justified reputation as one of the most original, thoughtful and clear-sighted nonfiction book publishers in the world."
A tribute from the press noted that Holdsworth "also fought very strongly for the distinctive place and vital importance of the social sciences within Cambridge publishing.... By the late 1990s, Michael was becoming well aware of the challenges that were beginning to confront academic and educational publishers of all kinds, as the first rumblings of the digital revolution began to sweep the industry, and he grasped very quickly the absolute centrality of data and related workflows to all publishing operations: what had been a computer department of three people in 1983 became a fully-fledged international IT department, and the second part of Michael's Cambridge career, from 1997 until his departure in 2006, was dominated by operational and commercial questions, which he ultimately oversaw as managing director of Europe."
Colleagues added: "Michael Holdsworth was unquestionably a great and innovative academic publisher, and to this day there remain major aspects of the ways in which transatlantic academic book publishers do their business over which his shadow continues to fall. Michael was in some ways a rather a shy man but he was also an exemplary boss and colleague; always clear, straight and absolutely fair."