14 Facts About John Gross

The Guardians obituarist Ion Trewin wrote: "Mr John Gross is one good argument for the survival of the species", a comment John Gross would have disliked since he was known for his modesty.

John Gross was too clever, too witty, too modest for our age.

John Gross was the editor of The Times Literary Supplement from 1974 to 1981, senior book editor and book critic on the staff of The New York Times from 1983 to 1989, and theatre critic for The Sunday Telegraph from 1989 to 2005.

John Gross worked as assistant editor on Encounter and as literary editor of The New Statesman and Spectator magazines.

John Gross had one brother, Tony Gross, who founded Cutler and Gross, an international fashion eyewear business which was a supplier to the fashion and film industries.

John Gross was educated at the Perse School in Cambridge and at the City of London School.

John Gross then returned to England and taught at Queen Mary, University of London and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he was a fellow from 1962 to 1965.

John Gross wrote regularly on literary and cultural topics for The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Wall Street Journal, The New Criterion, Commentary, The Spectator, Standpoint, The Observer, The New Statesman and The New York Times.

John Gross was a trustee of London's National Portrait Gallery from 1977 to 1984.

John Gross served two terms on the English Heritage advisory committee on blue plaques, and was on the Arts and Media Committee advising the British government on the award of public honours.

John Gross served as chairman of the judges of the Booker Prize, and was a member of The Literary Society.

John Gross was a non-executive independent director of Times Newspaper holdings, the publishers of The Times and The Sunday Times, from 1982 to 2011.

John Gross was married to Miriam Gross, a prominent literary editor, from 1965 to 1988.

John Gross lived in London, with spells of time living in New York in the 1960s and 1980s.