Obituary: Kay Sexton, manager of first B. Dalton bookstore, 'could make books happen'

From the time she was old enough to read, Kay Sexton was never far from a book. Her love of reading was something she paid forward to hundreds of people over the years as the manager of the original B. Dalton bookstore and founding board member of several local literary organizations.

Sexton became a local celebrity as host of the popular "Hooked on Books" show, which aired on KTCA-TV (now TPT) in the 1970s. The in-house newsletter of the same name that she produced for B. Dalton became the bible of the publishing industry and had distributors nationwide coveting a spot on her list of top picks.

Sexton died of natural causes Friday in her Arden Hills home at age 91.

In 1988, she was given the inaugural Kay Sexton Award, an honor that has been presented every year since to an individual or organization that has made outstanding contributions to the publishing industry or literary arts.

"Getting kids hooked on books while they were young, that was her goal," said her niece Mary Sexton. "She was very good at identifying books and directing people to books they would want to read, might like, or to those they never thought they would read, the little gem with small print."

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Sexton worked at the former Emporium department store in St. Paul and at Dayton's. In the 1960s, she was tapped to be manager of the first B. Dalton store, which opened at Southdale Center in Edina.The shop became known as "Kay's store" because of the sage advice she gave to customers and employees alike. Many of the people she hired and mentored went on to have successful careers of their own in the book industry.

"It seems likely that if the first store failed, it is possible that there may not have been a second," said Dick Fontaine, who was hired by Sexton and later became president of the national B. Dalton Bookseller chain that grew to 800 stores. "I was just one of many who went on to manage future stores, with only the 'training' that we had working for Kay."

"They would kill to get their book onto her sheet," said Gail See, former president of the American Booksellers Association and a 1999 Sexton Award winner. "When people trust what she was saying, they might risk picking up a book. That was what Kay was able to do."

Robert Pirsig was one of many authors who found that to be true. In 1974, Sexton got behind his book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," and it went on to sell more than 5 million copies.

"She was one of the rare people who could make books happen," said Marly Rusoff, one of the founders of the Loft Literary Center, who runs a literary agency and publishing house in New York. "Publishers said that if Kay likes a book, we better get behind it in a bigger way. Few people are able to do that."

Sexton applied her business acumen, wisdom and passion for books as a founding board member of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. She also was the "voice of reason" when Pulitzer Prize-winning Graywolf Press got its start, See said.

Throughout her career, Sexton developed relationships with everybody from the shy author to the first lady of the United States. After she retired, friends continued to visit her when they came to town. Sexton was reading until recently when she lost her eyesight, but visitors filled the gap by reading to her, friends and family members said.