Woodbury, NY—Marilyn Spira, one of the first female photo trade magazine editors during the 1950s and 60s, died after a long illness on March 28, 2013. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 17, 1931, she was the youngest child of Simon and Gussie Hacker.
Spira was the devoted wife of the late Fred Spira, founder of Spiratone—the iconic retailer that was one of the first to introduce quality Japanese photo accessories to the U.S. market. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1952 and began her editorial career at Photo Dealer after being hired by the late Augustus (Gus) Wolfman. She was later recruited by Sam Kravit to join Photo Merchandiser and subsequently became managing editor of Photo Trade News in 1959, where she was responsible for the highly respected Master Buying Guides.
Her marriage to Fred Spira was a photographic industry fairytale that began when she interviewed the then-up-and-coming CEO for a feature article in PTN. While the article apparently never saw the light of day, the two were married shortly after.
She later created and edited a Spiratone publication, News ’n’ Views, and worked with her husband to curate what became known as the Spira Collection, a world-class assemblage of over 20,000 items relating to the history of photography, ranging from books and images to cameras, that was the largest privately held photographic collection in the world.
Marilyn Spira was a warmhearted, engaging and highly intelligent person who will be sorely missed by anyone in our industry who had the pleasure of knowing her.
