Joseph Verner Reed papers

JOSEPH VERNER REED.

Founder, The Triton press, Inc., 601 West 26th Street, New York 1, N.Y., and owner, Triton Publications, 131 East 64th Street, New York 21; residence, Denbigh Farm, Quaker Ridge, Greenwich, Conn.

Reed was born in Nice, France, January 18, 1902; graduated from Yale (Class of 1926); was a cub reporter on the Chattanooga Times during 1927-28 and was with Brown Brothers Harriman & Company the following year. About that time he founded Macgowan & Reed, Inc., which presented during the next few years, Basil Sydney and Mary Ellis in "Children of Darkness," Jane Cowl in "Twelfth Night" and "Art and Mrs. Bottle," Leslie Banks and Nigel Bruce in "Lean Harvest" and "Springtime for Henry," and Edith Evans in "Lady with a Lamp." From 1936 to 1938 he was associated with Maurice Evans and Margaret Webster in theatrical production and in 1946 entered another field, when he founded and became a partner in Reed & Stevens, Inc.--wall decorations. In July 1949, Reed founded The Triton Press, Inc., which is devoted to color reproduction by collotype -- the photogelatin method of printing fine art and commercial subjects. Among their customers are the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Museum of Modern Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, and the Associated American Artists of New York. Triton Publications, which he also owns, was founded in February, 1950. This concern published and distributes fine art prints. During the period from May 1942 to August 1945 he was on active duty in the Army as a major in the Special Services Division.

Reed's book, The Curtain Falls, was published by Harcourt Brace in 1935. He is a director of the Hobe Sound (Fla.) Company, the parent company of the Jupiter Island Club at Hobe Sound, of which he and Mrs. Reed are co-managers. He is also a director of the Lighthouse of the New York Association for the Blind and the Greenwich Hospital (and a member of the corporation of the Greenwich Hospital Association and of the hospital building committee) and a member of the board of the Round Hill Church in Greenwich. In 1949 he served as chairman of the Greenwich Community Chest. Reed blongs to the Union Club of New York, the Round Hill and Field clubs of Greenwich, and the Seminole Golf Club of Palm Beach. Reed died on November 25, 1973.

Mrs. Reed, whose maiden name was Permelia Pryor, is the daughter of Samuel F. and Ruby Jacques Pryor. They were married in Greenwich on December 31, 1927. Their children were all born in New York, Lauren on July 23, 1929, Adrian Pryor on April 26, 1931, Nathaniel Pryor on July 22, 1933, Samuel Pryor on November 8, 1934 and Joseph Verner, Jr., on December 17, 1937.

Reed died on November 25, 1973.

(Taken from the Yale College, Class of 1926 Class Record.)