Timothy Mooney, sales manager for Penguin Random House Publisher Services, died on September 19 after a short illness, PRH chief revenue officer Jaci Updike announced in a note to staff. He was 70.
Mooney spent 37 years at PRH, first joining Random House in February 1989 as a trade sales representative. He went on to hold a variety of positions within the PRH sales department, including trade sales representative for B&N College, associate director of trade sales communication, national account manager for Baker & Taylor, and sales manager for children’s and, most recently, publisher services.
Born on September 30, 1954, Mooney attended the University of Chicago and Stanford University before starting his career in books at the Chicago indie bookstore Staver’s.
“Tim was known as a true intellectual, and his curiosity knew no bounds,” wrote Jaci Updike, recalling “a story at his 35th service award ceremony about his taking time off to read all six volumes of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.”
“During that same ceremony,” Updike continued, “it was said that if one was lucky, they might experience the ‘Wisdom of Mooney: sometimes you can fix it. And sometimes you just need to be patient.’ And sometimes you need to find someone like Tim Mooney, someone wise and generous and someone you trust to be a kind of North Star. That was Tim Mooney for so many.”
Mooney is survived by his wife of 38 years, Lisa; his daughter Caroline; his son-in-law Steven; and his grandchildren Scarlett and Graham.
“While Tim will be missed by so many of us,” Updike wrote, “his first and true love and passion was for his family. At the same 35th anniversary service awards, he came rushing in at the last minute, as he stayed behind for his daughter to give birth to his grandson; work would have to wait.”
