Condé Montrose Nast (March 26, 1873–September 19, 1942) was the founder of Condé Nast Publications, a leading American magazine publisher known for publications such as Vanity Fair and Vogue.
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Background
Born in New York City, Nast was the son of William F. Nast, a broker who served as U.S. attaché in Berlin, and his wife, the former Esther Benoist, the daughter of a St. Louis banker. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1894 and received a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1897.
Career
After working for Collier's Weekly (1898–1907) as its advertising manager, Nast bought Vogue, then a small New York society magazine, transforming it into America's premier fashion magazine. He then turned Vanity Fair into a sophisticated general interest publication. Nast eventually owned a stable of magazines that included House & Garden, British, French, and Argentine editions of Vogue, Jardins des Modes, and Glamour (the last magazine added to the group while he was alive). While other publishers simply focused on increasing the number of magazines in circulation, Nast targeted groups of readers by income level or common interest. Among his staffers were Edna Woolman Chase, who served as the editor in chief of Vogue; Frank Crowninshield, who launched Vanity Fair for Nast; and Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley as well as Diana Vreeland. Nearly ruined in the Great Depression, Nast spent his last years struggling to regain his early prosperity.
Marriages
Nast was married twice. His wives were:
- (Jeanne) Clarisse Coudert (later Mrs. J.V. Onativia), a Coudert Brothers law-firm heiress who became a set and costume designer. Married in 1902, separated in 1919, and divorced in 1923, they had two children, Charles Coudert Nast and Natica Nast. (See photographs of Clarisse Nast on Wikimedia Commons.)
- Leslie Foster (later Lady Benson), whom he married in 1928; a granddaughter of Gov. George White Baxter of Tennessee, the bride was 20, the groom was 55. Divorced in the early 1930s, they had one child, a daughter, Leslie (who married firstly, Peter George Grenfell, 2nd Baron St. Just, and secondly, Lord Bonham Carter).
Between 1932 and 1936, Nast's companion was the Vanity Fair writer Helen Brown Norden, author of The Hussy's Handbook (1942).
Death
Condé Nast died in 1942 and is interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. Specifically, his grave is located in Section 25 of the cemetery, near Babe Ruth and Billy Martin.
External links
Sources
- "Husband and Wife Reunited: After a Separation of Thirteen Years They Come Together", The New York Times, 14 October 1890, p. 3
- "Condé Nast Dead; Publisher was 68", The New York Times, 20 September 1942, p. 39
- "Miss Nast Fiancée of Baron St. Just", The New York Times, 24 January 1949, p. 14
