Arthur Klebanoff – 50th Reunion Essay

Arthur Klebanoff

1035 Park Avenue, Apt 3-A

New York, New York 10028

aklebanoff@rosettabooks.com

212-722-1004

Spouse(s): Susan B. Hirschhorn (1978)

Child(ren): Alexander Klebanoff (1982), Jonathan Klebanoff (1985)

Education: Yale 1969, B.A., Harvard Law School 1973 LLB

Career: Lawyer, Janklow, Traum & Klebanoff 1973–1983, Literary Agent Morton Janklow Associates 1976–1983, Lawyer Agent Arthur M. Klebanoff P.C., 1983–1990, VP Publishing International Management Group, 1990–1993, Scott Meredith Literary Agency 1993 to date, RosettaBooks 2001 to date

Avocations: Travel, cultural experiences

College: Pierson

It is hard to dispute the evidence of 50 years:

• A family 70th birthday party
• A 40th wedding anniversary trip to Laos and Vietnam
• The publishing assignment of helping with the 50th Reunion Book
• A 50th high school reunion a while ago
• Law school pushing its 45th reunion

But it doesn’t feel like 50 years:

• I am engaged day to day in work not so unlike senior year with no intention of stopping.
• I married (and remain married to) a Connecticut College graduate who grew up in my hometown.
• With our children long out of the house, my day-to-day patterns have echoes of long ago.

And in many ways 50 years later feels better than 1969:

• I can probably do more with my trainer today than I could upon graduation.
• While lifestyle is hardly everything, it helps when day-to-day life is more comfortable.
• Watching our 32- and 35-year-old sons mature, enjoying our daughter in law and waiting for grandchildren is a pleasing new part of the mix.
• I get to choose what I want to do (most of the time).
• I am closer to my rather large family, but terribly miss my younger brother who died eight years ago.
• Travel as experienced and contemplated gets more gratifying year by year.
• Cultural experiences have more “echoes” of the past and more depth.
• Friendships take on more meaning.
• 25 years in the same apartment in New York City and 35 years in the same house in Litchfield County, Connecticut, provide a meaningful sense of community and continuity.

With the passage of time, I am more and more committed to the idea that Yale was the education that most mattered. In one fashion or another, I use that learning every day.

I tried to work with Yale as an institution (on licensing) shortly before its 300th birthday—that was a frustrating experience. One of my Yale mentors, William Lilley, has remained an important presence in my life and a critical supporter at different stages of my career. Another Yale mentor, Alex Garvin, has been a longtime gratifying client.

Soon I will have the experience of publishing our classmate Reed Hundt. After supporting the editors of the Yale Daily News editors on campus from the business side, this is pretty much full circle.

Of course, there is change. My younger son Jonathan graduated from Vassar College, an idea that still feels a bit out of whack. My sister Susan was in the first Yale class of freshmen to attend Yale all four years.

I don’t feel regrets, perhaps because I remain engaged in the here and now.

I jokingly refer to my own book (The Agent) as “half a life.” Not sure I will ever try to put the other half on paper.