Mark Saxton

Mark Saxton (November 24, 1914 – January 7, 1988) was an American author and editor. He is chiefly remembered for helping edit for publication Austin Tappan Wright’s Utopian novel Islandia, and for his own three sequels to Wright’s work.

Life

Saxton was born November 28, 1914 in Mineola, Long Island, New York, the son of Eugene F. Saxton, vice president, secretary and head of the editorial department of Harper & Brothers, and Martha (Plaisted) Saxton, an editor and school teacher. He had one brother, Alexander Saxton, also a novelist and notable historian. Mark grew up in New York City, where his father worked, and later attended Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1936. As an adult he lived in both New York and Mill River, Massachusetts. He married Josephine Stocking; the couple had two children, Russell Steele Saxton and Martha Porter Saxton. Mark Saxton died at his home in New York City from an apparent heart attack at the age of 73 on Thursday, January 7, 1988. He was survived by his children Russell and Martha, his wife having predeceased him by many years.