Robert Gottlieb

Robert Gottlieb (born April 29, 1931 in New York City, New York) is an American writer and renowned editor in the book publishing business.

Gottlieb is a graduate of Columbia University. He is perhaps best known for discovering and editing Catch-22 by the then unknown Joseph Heller. Gottlieb has been Editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf but left in 1987 and succeeded William Shawn as editor of The New Yorker until 1992 when he was replaced by Tina Brown.

He's also been the subject of controversy involving rejecting the work of John Kennedy Toole (Pulitzer Prize winner of 'A Confederacy of Dunces"). Toole went into despair and later committed suicide in 1969.

For many years Gottlieb was associated with New York City Ballet, serving as a member of its board of directors. In this vein, he published several books by people from the dance world including Mikhail Baryshnikov and Margot Fonteyn. He also works as a dance critic for the New York Observer.