In 1953 while an editor at art book publisher Harry Abrams, he met Anne Bernays (b. 1930), daughter of public relations pioneer Edward L. Bernays and writer Doris E. Fleischman, and great-niece of Sigmund Freud. They married in 1954. Soon after he was invited by M. Lincoln "Max" Schuster, co-founder of Simon & Schuster to help acquire "better books", seek out younger authors, and "deal diplomatically" with established names.