Hudson Reporter
Patricia G. Horan, 80, who made her mark in publishing, writing and editing, died on Dec. 30, in Asheville, N.C. The cause of death was complications related to Covid-19. Known as Patsy, she was a 45-year veteran of the publishing industry, including roles as founding editor of a Crown/Random House division, and as editor of books and magazines for Time-Life, Grove, Viking, Penguin, Murdock and other groups. She also created her own independent publishing imprint, The Round House Press, which featured a range of nonfiction titles. Born in Hoboken, she spent her formative years in Weehawken before moving to New York City in 1962. Over the past decade she lived in Kent, CT, before moving to Asheville. A graduate of the Academy of Saint Aloysius in Jersey City and Marymount Manhattan College, she grew up in a literary household as the daughter of James D. Horan, a noted novelist and historian who also was part of a team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize. Early in her eclectic career she excelled as a writer-editor for the labor press, becoming a five-time recipient of the First Award for Excellence in Labor Journalism. As a playwright, she wrote or contributed to nine successful New York City evenings of theater and song, and in the early 1970s she was a founding member of the pioneering Westbeth Feminist Playwrights Collective. Notably, she was the co-author and lyricist of a documentary musical, “What Time of Night It Is,” commissioned by the National Organization for Women and starring future Tony Award-winner Nell Carter. The New York Daily News called it “a thrilling theater piece.” She is survived by three brothers, Brian, Gary, and James.