Llewellyn Howland III, 81

Wenham, Mass.

Llewellyn Howland III of Boston and Wenham, Mass., died in his sleep at home on Friday, June 21. The cause was lung cancer. Born Aug. 21, 1937, Louie grew up in South Dartmouth, Mass., and was an ardent sailor and yachting skipper in his youth. He graduated from Milton Academy and from Harvard College, class of 1959. He lived in Jamaica Plain from 1970 to 2016, when he moved to Wenham. “Born to read,” as he would say, he worked for publisher Harcourt, Brace & World and literary agent Sterling Lord in the early 1960s. In 1965, he joined Little, Brown and Company in Boston as a senior trade editor. He was beloved by the scores of authors whose work he nurtured and championed. In 1978, he established Howland and Company, an antiquarian dealership specializing in maritime books and literary first editions. He contributed innumerable forewords and articles to books and periodicals, notably “WoodenBoat” magazine, and was the author of “The New Bedford Yacht Club: A History” (2002) and “No Ordinary Being: W. Starling Burgess, Inventor, Naval Architect, Poet, Aviation Pioneer, and Master of American Design” (2014) among other works. Over the years, Louie supported and engaged with many maritime historical organizations; he was a longtime trustee of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and of Mystic Seaport Museum. He also was a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a member of the Tavern Club. Louie was predeceased by his parents, Llewellyn Howland, Jr. and Sarah Ives Howland of South Westport. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jessie W. “Jay” Howland; his sisters, Sarah H. Godfrey of Rumford, R.I., and Hope H. Hale of Carmel, Cal.; a daughter, Jessie H. Cahill, and his son, Cornelius. His sweetness, brilliance, wit, generosity, and creativity will be sorely missed.