Strand Bookstore Owner Dies At 89

UNION SQUARE, NY — Fred Bass, the owner of the of the legendary Strand Bookstore, died on Wednesday morning at 89, the store confirmed.

The cause was congestive heart failure, according to Leigh Altshuler, the Strand’s spokeswoman.

Bass helped to launch the iconic Manhattan book store from a small second-hand shop to the massive Union Square store that boasts "18 miles of books," which adds up to more than 2.5 million volumes.

The Strand, today located at 828 Broadway, first opened on Fourth Avenue in 1927 with Ben Bass, Fred's father, at the helm, according to the Strand's website. Fred began learning the family business at 13, and eventually took over from his father. He worked at the store constantly throughout this life, aside from a brief stint in the Army, and helped expand the small bookstore into the New York institution it is today.

Bass was born in the East Village on June 28, 1928, according to Publishers Weekly. He graduated from Brooklyn College before serving for two years in the Armed Forces. Bass took over management of the store in 1956, and soon moved the shop to 12th Street and Broadway in 1957.

"He had this thing of trying to buy everything he could," Bass said about his father in a video about the Strand's history. "Actually I'm doing the same thing he did."

Bass described his relentless work ethic and an "obsession" with books as keys to the Strand's expansion.

"Every day I'm on a treasure hunt," he said in the video about his search for new books to buy and stock at the store.

Bass co-owned the store with his daughter Nancy Bass Wyden at the time of his death.

"I grew up at the Strand, at first sharpening pencils, shelving books and answering phones. For over 30 years, I have had the privilege of working alongside of my dad managing the store," Bass Wyden told Publishers Weekly. "He never had an office and loved when customers told him they enjoyed “getting lost in the stacks”. He spent all of his time behind his buying desk, eager to see what treasures would come across it. He felt working with books was the best job in the world."

Some of Bass's favorite titles included "Letters to Vera" by Vladimir Nabokov and "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis, according to the Strand's website.

"My dream was to get a big bookstore," Bass said in a video on the Strand's website. "Which I've achieved, I'm very happy about that. I really wanted to get a big, huge bookstore."

Image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News