My dear friend, former editor and literary agent Roger Freet died Tuesday, March 18, at age 56, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. What I owe him personally and professionally is nearly beyond measure. What Catholic and Christian readers owe him may be just as hard to measure.
Some readers may underestimate the importance of both the editorial work done at publishing houses and the work of the literary agent. Both are crucial for the completion of any book.
I first met Roger around 2008, a few years after my book My Life With the Saints was published by Loyola Press. Roger was an editor at HarperOne at the time, the division of HarperCollins that handles religion and spirituality, and pitched to me the idea of writing a book on Ignatian spirituality for a general audience with Harper. I balked at leaving Loyola, which I loved (and still do), but he convinced me that going to a secular publisher would help get the book to an even larger audience.
Over lunch at an Italian restaurant near the old America House in Manhattan, Roger pitched what would eventually become The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. He worked with me every step of the way on that book, making suggestions, telling me what needed to be added and, most of all, what needed to be cut. (He also added, at the very last minute, those parentheses in the title: “It’s more lighthearted that way,” he said.)
Roger soon became one of my most valued confidants, advisors, editors and friends. One reason that so many religious authors trusted him so much (in addition to his joie de vivre and his love of the written word, of books and of the publishing industry overall) was that he had a master’s degree in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and could easily chat about anything from Karl Barth to St. Ignatius Loyola to the Gospel of John. In time, as an editor and later as an agent, he would work with authors like Bart Ehrman, Kate Hennessy, Diana Butler Bass, Jim Wallis, Candida Moss, Amy-Jill Levine and many more.
Among these authors were my colleagues at America Michael O’Loughlin (Roger “agented” his book Hidden Mercy, on the church’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis) and Colleen Dulle (Roger worked with her on her forthcoming book Struck Down, Not Destroyed, from Penguin Random House).
“I feel so lucky to have worked with Roger. He usually worked on book deals much larger than something I, as a debut author, could bring in, but taking on smaller authors like me was something he did often for writers whose message he believed in,” Colleen told me. “He gave me the same treatment the bigger authors got, always answered his phone and all of my questions, guided me through unfamiliar waters with tenderness and patience and fought for me determinedly in negotiations. He was, above all, a good man, and I am so sorry that our time together has been cut short.”
“Roger was kind, caring and funny, and I always appreciated that he gave honest feedback, which made proposals and books so much better,” Michael O’Loughlin told me. “I was especially grateful for his encouragement to continue working on finding a home for Hidden Mercy, especially in those moments when it all seemed hopeless. His faith in me as a young writer was a jolt of confidence and exemplified a kindness that is perhaps not all too common in the publishing world. I’m inspired to know I was but one of many authors he helped like this during his career.”
I also found Roger always to be enthusiastic and supportive of my writing. And funny. Once, we commissioned a new portrait of Jesus for the cover for my book Jesus: A Pilgrimage. Initially, we both professed our admiration for a new image of Jesus with long, flowing hair. But deep down, something didn’t seem right. Over time, I started to question it and worry that the image would be too distracting for readers. My feeling intensified after a New Testament scholar saw the image and said, “Who is that?”
One day, just a few days before the cover was about to go to press, I said, tentatively, “How do you feel about the cover?” He said, “Well, you like it, right?” And I said, “Not really!” And he said, “Neither do I! Let’s scrap it.” We did and simply went with the green background and a little olive branch that Roger added, which worked fine. “Let’s never hold back again with each other,” he said. And we never did.
He was a special joy to be with at book conferences and book signings, truly happy to stand at a booth, sell or talk up books, and he always made a point to attend my talks, especially at the yearly Los Angeles Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, Calif. (Harper was for many years located in San Francisco, so Roger was almost always at Congress.) As an editor, he loved when I spoke in the larger arena (more potential sales!), which he always called the “Enormo-Dome.” And I loved enjoying dinners with him and the HarperOne team afterwards, debriefing and planning and lots of laughing.
When Roger left HarperOne to become a literary agent, I already had my own agent, Don Cutler, whom we both admired. When Don died at an advanced age, I immediately went to Roger, and he was as great an agent as he was an editor.
So in one way or another, either as a talented editor or a great literary agent, Roger was responsible for The Jesuit Guide, Jesus: A Pilgrimage, Between Heaven and Mirth, Seven Last Words, Building a Bridge, Learning to Pray and Come Forth, among other books by me and many others. If you’ve enjoyed any of those books, you have my dear friend Roger Freet to thank.
Roger died far too young, leaving a family, colleagues and authors who mourn him. I will miss him more than I can describe—his wise counsel, his enthusiasm, his great ideas, his jokes over long meals and, most of all, his faithful friendship.
As Mark Tauber, his former colleague at HarperOne, wrote on March 18, his spirit lives on in his family who survive him and “in his authors’ writings.”
Rest in peace, Roger, and thank you so much, my friend. And thanks on behalf of millions of fellow readers.
