John Pierce was the first individual to hold the title of Group Publisher at The Old Farmer's Almanac since it was founded in 1792. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Pierce was raised on a small family farm in southern New Hampshire. He was a graduate of both Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was an award-winning poet, and Dartmouth College, where he was an accomplished student of botany.
Mr. Pierce joined Yankee Publishing Incorporated as an editor in 1974 shortly after finishing college. Since 1986, he held the title of publisher. A unique blend of his demonstrated interests and expertise in prose and plants allowed him to positively affect the future of the Almanac.
He lived on a rocky hillside in Dublin, New Hampshire (hardiness zone 3B), with his wife, two children, and small, somewhat unpredictable, vegetable garden until his passing on April 10, 2008.
When Janice Stillman joined The Old Farmer's Almanac as Editor in 2000, she made history. Janice is not only the 13th editor in the Almanac's history, but also has the distinction of being the first female to hold the title.
In her role as Editor, Janice oversees the development of the annual publication, working closely with writers and other editors to develop new and interesting feature content. She also has a hand in the preparation and production of the seasonal All-Seasons Garden Guide, The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids and the Almanac's line of calendars.
Raised in Norwood, Massachusetts, Janice earned a degree in English from Fitchburg State and also holds a Masters in Mass Communication from Emerson College.
Janice divides her time between the Almanac's offices in Dublin, New Hampshire, during the week and southern Massachusetts on weekends. A world traveler who has sought and savored experiences that have run the gamut from five-star to fallen-star, Janice enjoys gardening, cooking, and reading in her spare time. She also makes and refinishes furniture. Many of her original designs have few, if any, nails, and most, she's proud to say, "work" as intended.
On Sept. 15, 2007, Judson D. Hale, Sr. begins his 50th year with The Old Farmer's Almanac and Yankee Magazine. He joined Yankee Publishing Inc. in 1958 as an assistant editor. Later he became associate editor, then managing editor, and, in 1970, editor of both publications. (Incidentally, Hale was only Yankee Magazine's second editor since 1935 and The Old Farmer's Almanac's twelfth editor since 1792.) In 2000, Jud became Editor-in-Chief of both Yankee Magazine and The Old Farmer's Almanac.
In his capacity as Editor-in-Chief of The Old Farmer's Almanac and Editor of Yankee Magazine, Hale appears each fall on radio and television shows throughout North America, including "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "CBS This Morning," and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."
"I always work to further the mission of The Old Farmer's Almanac, which is to be useful with a pleasant degree of humor," explains Hale.
Hale is the author of Inside New England and his autobiography, titled The Education of a Yankee. He has also edited a number of books, including The Best of Yankee Magazine, The Best of The Old Farmer's Almanac: The First 200 Years, and more recently, The Old Farmer's Almanac Book of Everyday Advice, published by Random House. He has also written a book about his autistic brother.
Born in Boston and raised on a dairy farm in Vanceboro, Maine, Hale graduated from Dartmouth College (Class of 1955) in 1958. He also served with the Third Armored Division as a tank commander from 1955 to 1957. He is married to the former Sally Huberlie of Rochester, New York. They have three married sons, Judson, Jr., Daniel, and Christopher, and seven grandchildren.
Jamie Trowbridge is President and CEO of Yankee Publishing and publisher of Yankee Magazine and The Old Farmer's Almanac.
He grew up in Dublin, New Hampshire, where Yankee Publishing is located. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1982, he moved to Seattle — working first for Seattle's alternative weekly newspaper, then helping to launch a magazine about Washington state, and finally moving the operations of Alaska magazine from Washington to Anchorage.
When the East Coast drew Jamie and his wife Laura back, they landed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Jamie managed the publications for Earthwatch, a nonprofit that promotes scientific research expeditions. In 1988, they moved to New Hampshire so that Jamie could join Yankee Publishing. Before becoming President in 1999, he served as Production Director, Director of New Business Development, and Publishing Director.
Currently Jamie and Laura live in Peterborough, New Hampshire, with their four children and dogs, cats, and chickens.
In her position as Senior Editor with The Old Farmer's Almanac, Mare-Anne assists with the preparation and coordination of the Almanac as well as The All-Seasons Garden Guide.
Mare-Anne, who joined the Almanac in 1992, was also a key player in the planning and launching of The Old Farmer's Almanac's award-winning Web site, www.almanac.com.
In her spare time, Mare-Anne loves to garden and always plants a large home garden with a variety of flowers and vegetables.
Born in Sweden, Mare-Anne graduated from Lund University with a degree in social work, and did graduate work in Minneapolis where she learned computer programming. She currently lives in the small New England town of Munsonville with her husband, Jim, as well as three cats and a big dog.
A New England native, Martie Majoros has lived in Rhode Island, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire — in that order.
After working in adult education for nearly 20 years, Martie recently received her Master of Arts in English/Writing from the University of New Hampshire. She joined the staff of The Old Farmer's Almanac in 2001 as a part-time assistant research editor. Now, as the research editor, Martie is responsible for fact checking and finding photos for Almanac articles, compiling the astronomical pages of the Almanac, and writing feature articles.
She enjoys gardening, reading, and cooking, and she loves New England winters — the whiter, the better, so that she can strap on a pair of cross-country skis, snowshoes, or ice skates.
Jack Burnett is the Copy Editor for The Old Farmer's Almanac, as well as for all associated products such as the All-Seasons Garden Guide, calendars, and journals. An editor of books and magazines since 1974, he has previously served the Almanac as a freelance editor, fact checker, and photo researcher. Jack is also a writer, whose most recent published effort was a Christmas story in the November/December 2002 issue of Clipper, the in-flight magazine of Pan Am.
Raised in East Greenbush, New York, Jack is descended from two long lines of Vermont families. His interests includes genealogy and North American history, cooking, and meteorology -- for which his first elementary school project was an anemometer made from toilet bowl floats cut in half. He originally came to New Hampshire to attend Dartmouth College -- from which he received a degree in English and geography -- and has stayed in the state ever since.
Jack and his family live in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where his wife enjoys quilting and gardening, and their son maintains an ever growing menagerie of pets. The Burnetts are Canadaphiles, collecting Canadian coins and taking trips to the Land of the Maple Leaf as much as time allows. Their recent excursion to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls was preceded by a visit to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick.
For Jack, helping on The Old Farmer's Almanac sometimes means personal recollections, as both of his grandfathers were indeed Old Farmers whose ways of life and attitudes toward it might well have come right out of the pages of the Almanac. "When my Grampa Burnett was in his 80s," he reports, "I thought that it might be wise of me to ask him if he had any secrets to a long and happy life that he wanted to pass along. He thought for a minute or two, and then said, 'Well, sure. Don't get lost in the woods. And most important, don't be goin' in your wife's pocketbook.'"
Heidi Stonehill joined The Old Farmer's Almanac in 2001 as senior associate editor. As such, she manages the content development of the Almanac's line of wall, engagement, box, and specialty calendars and also works closely with the art director and production department through all proofing stages. Calendar projects (and holiday calculations) start as much as three years in advance and touch on such topics as gardening, weather, astronomy, history, household hints, and country living.
Heidi also compiles and edits the content for the right-hand pages of the Almanac and has written parts of The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids: Volume 2.
Heidi earned a B.A. in biology from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and has been in publishing for more than 17 years.
She enjoys the natural sciences, gardening, music, art, sci-fi, and games (especially computer). But at the top of her list of interests is cats -- especially her fuzzy feline Tig, who is a great (and talkative!) companion.
Sarah has been the assistant editor at The Old Farmer's Almanac since 2003. She has tons of quirky and little known facts crammed into that brain of hers, which may be thought useless elsewhere -- but not here at the Almanac. Sarah graduated from the University of New Hampshire. She previously worked as an editor at a biotechnology and pharmaceutical publishing company and a project manager at a text book publishing company before joining the Almanac team.
Sarah works on all of our products--fact checking, photo researching, writing, editing, and proofing all things Almanac. She is also one of our on-air voices, regularly chatting it up with radio stations across the country.
Sarah is an avid Red Sox fan and enjoys working in her gardens, kayaking, and skiing with her husband.
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