Ann Godoff, an American editor and publisher who was president of Random House and founder of Penguin Press, died on February 24, 2026, at the age of 76.
Born Ann Leslie Godoff in New York City on July 22, 1949, she moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1957. She attended Beverly Hills High School, studied at Bennington College, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film from New York University in 1972.
Godoff worked at Simon & Schuster, Atlantic Monthly Press and Random House, where she developed a specialty in literary works. Her first mass-market hit was The Alienist by Caleb Carr, and she also edited Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt and Makes Me Wanna Holler by Nathan McCall.
Ann Leslie Godoff (July 22, 1949 – February 24, 2026) was an American editor and publisher. She was the president of Random House and the founder of Penguin Press.