Former CU Press managing editor Elsie Myers Stainton dies at age 96

Elsie Myers Stainton, an editor and author who spent most of her adulthood in Ithaca, died Aug. 31 in Silver Spring, Md., of cancer. She was 96.

Stainton retired in 1976 as managing editor of Cornell University Press. Thereafter she published a series of articles and books on writing and editing. In 2002, at age 91, she extensively revised the second edition of her highly praised book, "The Fine Art of Copyediting."

Born Elsie Ernestine Phillips in East Orange, N.J., she graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., and came to Ithaca for postgraduate studies. She is believed to have been the first woman to receive a master's degree in philosophy from Cornell, where she met and in 1935 married Henry Alonzo Myers, Cornell professor of English. After his death in 1955, she gathered some of his lectures and writings into a book, "Tragedy: A View of Life," published by Cornell University Press. She joined the press thereafter as a book editor.

In 1968, she married Walter Stainton, Cornell professor of speech and drama, who died in 1987.

She is survived by a son and daughter and extended family.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Sage Chapel at Cornell. Visiting hours are Monday, Sept. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Herson Funeral Home.

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