Condé Nast | |
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| Born | Condé Montrose Nast (1873-03-26)March 26, 1873 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 1942(1942-09-19) (aged 69) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University Washington University |
| Occupation | Publisher |
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| Partner(s) | Helen Brown Norden (1932–1936) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | William F. Nast Esther Benoist |
| Relatives | William Nast (grandfather) Louis Auguste Benoist (grandfather) Jane Bonham Carter, Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (granddaughter) |
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Condé Montrose Nast (March 26, 1873 – September 19, 1942) was an Americanpublisher,entrepreneur andbusiness magnate. He foundedCondé Nast, a mass media company, and published titles such asVanity Fair andVogue.
Named after his uncleCondé Benoist Pallen, Condé Montrose Nast was born inNew York City to a family ofMidwestern origin. His father,William F. Nast—son of the German-bornMethodist leaderWilliam Nast—was an inventor who had been a U.S.attaché inBerlin. His mother, Esther A. Benoist, was a daughter of pioneeringSt. Louis bankerLouis Auguste Benoist, a descendant of a prominentFrench family who emigrated toCanada, then toMissouri. He had three siblings.
Nast's aunt financed his studies atGeorgetown University, from which he graduated in 1894. During his studies, he served as class president and was a member of Georgetown's debating organization, thePhilodemic Society.[1] He stayed on an extra year to receive amaster's degree from Georgetown in 1895.[2] He went on to earn a law degree fromWashington University in St. Louis in 1897.[3]
Nast did not take well to law and, upon graduation, took on a job working for a former Georgetown classmate,Robert Collier, as advertising manager forCollier's Weekly. Over the course of a decade, he increased the advertising revenue a hundredfold. He published books andLippincott's Monthly Magazine withRobert M. McBride. After leavingCollier's, Nast boughtVogue, then a small New York society magazine, transforming it into one of America's premier fashion magazines.
He then turnedVanity Fair into a sophisticated general-interest publication, with the help of his friendFrank Crowninshield, who was editor and a major influence for more than 20 years. It published many new and high-quality writers and displayed reproductions of modern art.
Nast eventually owned a stable of magazines which includedHouse & Garden, British, French and Argentine editions ofVogue,Le Jardin des Modes andGlamour – 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 staff wereEdna Woolman Chase, who served as theeditor-in-chief ofVogue,Dorothy Parker andRobert Benchley.
Nast was married twice. His first wife was Clarisse Coudert, aCoudert Brothers law-firm heiress who became a set and costume designer. They married in 1902, separated in 1919 and divorced in 1925. They had two children, includingCharles Coudert Nast.[4]
His second wife was Leslie Foster, granddaughter of short-timegovernor of Wyoming Territory,George W. Baxter. They married in 1928 when she was 20 and he was 55 and divorced around 1932. They had one child.[5]
Between 1932 and 1936, Nast's companion wasVanity Fair writerHelen Brown Norden.[6][7]
He was nearly ruined by theGreat Depression and spent his last years struggling to regain his early prosperity. Condé Nast died on September 19, 1942, and is interred atGate of Heaven Cemetery inHawthorne, New York. His grave is in Section 25 of the cemetery, nearBabe Ruth andBilly Martin.[8][9]
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