Sterling E. Lanier, writer, editor, and sculptor, died on June 28 in Sarasota, Florida. He was 79 years old.

As an editor at Chilton Books in Philadelphia in 1965, Lanier championed the publication of Frank Herbert's Dune, which became one of the best selling science fiction novels of all time. Lanier’s own books included The War for the Lot (1969), Hiero’s Journey (1974), Menace Under Marswood (1983), and a series of novels about the strange adventures of Brigadier Donald Ffellowes. He was also a sculptor of miniature creatures, both natural and whimsical.

His sculptures included his vision of the characters from The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R Tolkien. Lanier depended upon his own imagination, for the characters, which were only slightly described in the trilogy, published in 1953-1954. Tolkien accepted and admired a set of the sculptures but, through his advisers, he said that they could not be made commercially available.

When the Lord of the Rings became a movie in 2001, the on-screen characters amazingly resembled Lanier's sculptural portrayals. Tolkien had died in 1973, and so Lanier was seemingly free to market his creations. But he refrained, honoring what he believed to be Tolkien's wishes. Lanier served as a research historian at Winterthur Museum from l958 to 1960 and was an editor at John C. Winston Company, Chilton Books, and McRae-Smith.

Posted June 30, 2007