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Who

The former head of the William Morris literary department, Gottlieb is the founder of Trident Media.

Backstory

Born and raised in New York, the bookish Gottlieb knew from a young age that he wanted to work in publishing, and it didn't take him long to rocket to the top as a literary agent. The Elmira College grad started in the William Morris mailroom in 1976, became a full agent in 1982, took over the literary department in 1989—in his mid-thirties, one of the youngest agents ever to do so—and was elected to the agency's board in 1992. After a public spat with the agency's management in 2000, Gottlieb quit WMA and formed his own agency, taking a good chunk of his extensive client list with him, with the exception of his most valuable client, Tom Clancy (more on that below). These days, Gottlieb serves as Trident's chairman, while Dan Strone is the agency's CEO.

Of note

Gottlieb's clients have included Dean Koontz, Janet Evanovich, Margaret Salinger (daughter of J.D.), Larry Bond, RL Stine, the estate of Frank Herbert, and the Vatican. He's also landed deals for Jerry Seinfeld, Anthony Hopkins, Mel Brooks, Drew Barrymore, and Brian Wilson. His biggest client, though, was thriller writer Tom Clancy, for whom Gottlieb negotiated a series of massive deals: $10 million for The Sum of All Fears, $14 million for Without Remorse, $19 million for The Teeth of the Tiger. In 2000, then-powerbroker Michael Ovitz poached Clancy, sending Gottlieb running to the Times to declare war: "I believe it is open season on him." WMA publicly disavowed Gottlieb's comments—William Morris chief Jim Wiatt had already soured on Gottlieb's leadership—and with his contract up for renewal, Gottlieb quit within weeks to start his own agency.

Personal

Gottlieb's second wife, Olga, is operates a business that sells historic war medals (which Robert collects) and is also responsible for Trident's rather horrific web site, which looks like it was constructed in the mid-90s. The couple has three children and lives on the Upper West Side.

For the record

Don't confuse Gottlieb with (at least) two other notable New Yorkers with the same name. There's the legendary editor Robert Gottlieb, who once served as editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster and Knopf, and edited the New Yorker until Tina Brown took over in 1992. There's a criminal defense attorney named Robert Gottleib, who defended fashion writer-turned-rapist Peter Braunstein.