Flexner, Stuart Berg

Flexner, Stuart Berg

(1928–90) lexicographer; born in Jacksonville, Ill. After studying and teaching briefly at Cornell University, he moved to New York City, where he worked for several publishing firms. He was coauthor, with Harold Wentworth, of the Dictionary of American Slang (1960), and at Random House, where he became a vice-president and editor-in-chief of the reference division, he edited The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition (1987). He also wrote several works on language for popular consumption, including How to Increase Your Word Power (1968), I Hear America Talking (1976), and Listening to America (1982).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.