Jaffe, Rona 1932–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born June 12, 1932, in New York, NY; died of cancer, December 30, 2005, in London, England. Author. Jaffe was a bestselling novelist who gained fame with her first book, 1958's The Best of Everything. The granddaughter of millionaire building magnate Moses Ginsberg, she attended Radcliffe College, where she earned her B.A. in 1951. With a desire to work in publishing, she found a job as a file clerk for Fawcett Publications. Jaffe was ambitious, and soon rose to the post of associate editor. However, a better opportunity came along when film producer Jerry Wald approached Jaffe with the proposal to write a sexy novel. The intention would be to immediately adapt the book as a film—something that was not done in the 1950s—while capitalizing on the success of the recent hit Peyton Place. The strategy worked: The Best of Everything became a bestseller and was adapted to film in 1959. Jaffe, who had quit her regular job, became a full-time writer, producing a string of novels featuring female characters struggling to juggle career, family, and friends. Among her other books are The Other Woman (1972), Class Reunion (1979), An American Love Story (1990), and her last novel, The Room-Mating Season (2003). In 1982, she also was an associate producer for the television movie Mazes and Monsters. In 1995 Jaffe founded the Rona Jaffe Foundation, a nonprofit group that assists women writers with grant money for their projects.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2006, section 4, p. 7.

New York Times, December 31, 2005, p. B13.

Times (London, England), January 27, 2006, p. 68.

Washington Post, January 1, 2006, p. C10.