Abrams Books representative Lawrence Adamo has died at 82

Longtime Abrams Books representative Lawrence “Larry” F. Adamo died on February 19. He was 82 years old.

Born in the Bronx, Adamo graduated from high school in 1958. He later worked in a bookstore and was a senior sales representative for Abrams for the rest of his career—both positions, his family noted, that combined his love of books with his love of people .

“His life was filled with conversation, creating artwork full of texture and color, and enjoying small town life,” his family wrote in his obituary. “He was a man who knew the baker and the butcher by name. He was genuinely interested in hearing about other people’s lives and would chat with waiters and those he met on the street.’

An additional interest, painting, led him to befriend Countess Catherine Karolyi and the Michael Karolyi Foundation of Artists in Vance, France. At that time, Adamo joined a “seven-acre artists’ colony tucked under olive groves and fruit trees,” where he found a refuge that nurtured his love of conversation and art.

And when Adamo wasn’t traveling, books kept him moving.

“He loved books and the worlds they could take you to,” his family said. “He loved the jazz music of Bix Beiderbecke and classical composers. He did not own a mobile phone. He shunned technology, using a computer he borrowed from the library and reluctantly using email. He was a gentleman for whom a good cup of coffee and a slice of panettone was a ritual to be enjoyed slowly and deliberately. He had an elegant soul.

In a statement, Abrams said, “Larry was loved and respected by his colleagues, who remember him for his wit, wisdom, and most of all, his passion for our books. Larry loved picture books and art – he was an artist all his life – and happily passed on his knowledge to subsequent generations of colleagues in sales and other Abrams departments. Fondly remembered for his non-sequiturs and unique sense of humor, Larry will be missed by all of us and his clients.”

Adamo is survived by his brother Robert and Robert’s wife Ruth Ann; his niece, Susan Baliles and her husband, Paul Baliles; and his other niece, Eileen Connors, in addition to five grandsons and one granddaughter.