Laurie Platt Winfrey Shnayerson, 83, a veteran picture editor and wife of the late renowned magazine editor Robert Beahan (“Bob”) Shnayerson, died at home in Hillsdale, N.Y., surrounded by family, on February 20 after a short illness.
The eldest daughter of William Vernon Platt and Yvonne Bernard Beardsley of Rye, N.Y., Laurie was born in 1942 in Washington, D.C., while her father was serving as a U.S. Naval officer in the South Pacific during World War II.
Laurie attended Rye Country Day School, the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, and Bradford Junior College. A reluctant debutante, Laurie had little interest in 1960s suburbia and quickly decamped to New York City to join a publishing industry blossoming in tumultuous times.
Laurie began her career at American Heritage Publishing Company, rising in the ranks to become a picture editor before moving to Newsweek’s nascent Book Division, where she served as sole picture editor. Founded in 1968, the Book Division published beautifully illustrated volumes focused on the arts, history, biography, and architecture. It was Laurie’s keen eye that found, curated, and presented the images that told those stories to a pre-digital audience.
Laurie set out on her own as a freelancer in 1975. During this period, she authored two books of her own, both published by Walker & Co.: “The Unforgettable Elephant” (1980) and “Pig Appeal” (1982).
In 1985, Laurie launched Carousel Research Inc., a leading photo research agency with clients in traditional and educational publishing, magazines, and film. For two decades, Carousel represented the estate of the late Edward Steichen, one of the 20th century’s great photography masters.
After earlier marriages ended in divorce—the first to John L. Phillips and the second to the writer and editor Carey W. Winfrey, with whom she traveled eastward around the world for six months—Laurie married Bob Shnayerson in 1980 in Clinton Corners, N.Y. The couple later bought an 1800s farmhouse in Hillsdale, N.Y. Over a storybook 42-year marriage, some of Laurie and Bob’s greatest joys came from maintaining the property together. After long days outdoors, Laurie and Bob relished nothing more than a glass of wine on the front porch alongside friends and family, with their pets at their feet. Hillsdale became the focal point of a full, happy life, with Laurie—worldly, wryly funny, with a warm genius for friendship that was often remarked upon—at its heart.
The couple had two daughters together, Margot and Bonnie. Bob had two children, Michael and Kate, from an earlier marriage to Lydia Todd.
In later years, Laurie supported the creation of the Roeliff Jansen Community Library, bequeathing the library a substantial collection of Steichen books and other volumes of American and international photography.
Laurie is survived by a loving extended family, including Margot, Bonnie (Zach Nusbaum), Michael (Gayfryd Steinberg), and Kate (Nadim Rouhana); four grandchildren, Yvette Nusbaum, Jenna Shnayerson (Colin Brazell), Jed Rouhana (Nina Griecci Woodsum), and Adam Rouhana; and her sisters, Hilary Cole (John Cole) and Leslie Huntington.
The family plans a private memorial and asks that donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Roeliff Jansen Community Library. Arrangements have been entrusted to Peck & Peck Funeral Homes. To share a favorite memory or to leave a message of condolence, please visit the funeral home’s website.
