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Peter Kaplan, the former editor of the New York Observer who hired then-unknown columnist Candace Bushnell to write the series Sex and the City, died on Friday. He was 59 years old.
Mr. Kaplan died of cancer in New York City, his wife, Lisa Chase, has announced.
He led theObserver from 1994 to 2009. The Salmon Color Weekly has a readership of around 50,000, and is read by the decision makers and influencers it covers.
Mr. Kaplan was able to set the publication’s irreverent tone, in addition to hiring journalists who became influential voices of their time.
Ms Bushnell’s column about love and the dating scene inspired hit TV series Sex and the City starring Sarah Jessica Parker, on HBO.
In 2011, Mr. Kaplan wrote in the New York Magazine that “the more unsubscribes there were because of this column, the more we knew we had hit the jackpot.”
Among other journalists who wrote for Mr. Kaplan at theObserver, we find Joe Conason, who is now at the head of the website with a political flavor The National Memo, and Nikki Finke, who founded Deadline.com.
After leaving theObserver, Mr. Kaplan was hired as Creative Director at Condé Nast Traveler. In 2010 he became Editorial Director of the Fairchild Fashion Group, now Fairchild Fashion Media, a division of Condé Nast Publications.
The ex-editor’s role as a cultural influencer, however, was best presented by the creation of several fake Twitter accounts in his honor, including Wise Kaplan, Cranky Kaplan and Real Kaplan. Wise Kaplan’s profile identifies him, among other things, as a “New York oracle”.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Kaplan is survived by his son, three children from a first marriage, as well as two brothers.
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