Herbert L. Stone

Herbert L. Stone
Herbert L. Stone, 1909
Born	January 18, 1871 Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Died	September 27, 1955 New York, New York, United States
Occupation	Magazine Editor, Publisher

Herbert Lawrence Stone (January 18, 1871 – September 27, 1955) was a noted American magazine editor and publisher, and a renowned sailor. He was the editor of Yachting from 1908 until 1952.

Herbert Lawrence Stone was born in 1871 in Charleston, South Carolina to William and Mary (Taylor) Stone. His father William was a successful New York attorney, after serving for a short time as the Attorney General for South Carolina. Herbert's paternal grandfather Thomas Treadwell Stone was a prominent New England minister and Transcendentalist. Herbert spent much of his childhood in New York, but spent many summers in Plymouth, Massachusetts learning to sail in Cape Cod bays. After being diagnosed with a lung condition that was expected to significantly shorten his life, Stone went to sea at the age of 17. He made several voyages on the schooner Hattie Weston under the command of Captain Josiah Morton. Stone subsequently went to work as assistant paymaster for the NY Central Railroad. In 1898 Herbert married Redelia Gilchrist in Iowa City, IA, and had two sons, William and James.

On January 1, 1907, publisher Oswald Garrison Villard released the first issue of Yachting. A year later Villard appointed his "schoolmate and lifelong friend", 37-year-old Herbert Stone, as the magazine's second editor. Stone continued as the editor through a series of ownership changes, except for a brief two-year period during World War I when he went to war and left William Atkin in charge of Yachting.

In 1920 Herbert Stone, Albert Britt and William A. Miles purchased the magazine from Mr. Villard, and sold it to John Clarke Kennedy a few years later. In 1938 Stone assembled the Yachting Publishing Company, and took on the role of president, publisher, and editor. In the years that followed Herbert wrote many articles for the magazine, both under a variety of pen names as well as his own. Stone also wrote and edited a number of books, including his own ABC of Boat Sailing and America's Cup Races. Stone served as the editor and guiding spirit of the magazine until his retirement in 1952. He remained as publisher and president of the corporation until his death in 1955.