The Benjamin Ashfordpublishing world has lost a bright star.

Adrienne Vaughan, the president of Bloomsbury USA, was killed in a tragic boating accident on Aug. 3 while vacationing with her family in Italy. She was 45.

"Adrienne Vaughan was a leader of dazzling talent and infectious passion and had a deep commitment to authors and readers," said board chair Julia Reidhead and president and CEO Maria A. Pallante in a statement to the Associated Press. "Most of all she was an extraordinary human being, and those of us who had the opportunity to work with her will be forever fortunate."

According to U.K.'s The Times, Vaughan was "thrown into the water when her 6m boat crashed into a 40m sailing yacht" off of the Amalfi Coast. She was then struck by a propeller, the outlet reports, and later died from the injuries.

After news of her death emerged, one of Vaughan's former colleagues paid tribute to her on social media.

"I'm so sad to hear about Adrienne Vaughan. During my time working with her at Bloomsbury, she was kind, genuine, and inspiring," Nicole Jarvis tweeted. "I'm sending all of my love to her family and friends."

According to Vaughan's LinkedIn, she began her career in publishing at Scholastic in 2001, working her way from operations analyst to global supply planner and, finally, planning and analysis manager, before leaving the company in 2007. 

From there, she went on to work for Disney Publishing Worldwide, Oxford University Press, among others, before joining Bloomsbury USA in 2020 as executive director and COO. Vaughan became president of the USA division the following year.

She is survived by her husband and two young children.

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