In Memoriam

Teresa Mlawer

Our beloved Teresa—or Terry, as she was known to family and friends—passed away peacefully at home on March 21, 2020, after a courageous yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.

Teresa Mlawer June 24, 1944 – March 21, 2020

Our beloved Teresa—or Terry, as she was known to family and friends—passed away peacefully at home on March 21, 2020, after a courageous yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.

Teresa is survived by her husband William; daughter Vivian and her husband Keith; three stepchildren, Mark and his wife Laurie, Natania and her husband Michael, and Eli and his wife Jill; grandchildren Zachary and his wife Vanessa, Evan, Benjamin, Sissela and her husband Pedro, Ellis, Fanny, Sophia, and Samuel; and her newborn twin great-grandchildren, Leon and Charlotte. She is also survived by her sister Ines and nephew Ardelio and his wife Milbery.

Teresa was born in 1944 in Havana, Cuba, to José Rodríguez and Francisca Minsal. She immigrated to the United States in 1961 with her parents and sister, settling in New York City, where she learned English while attending high school at night.

In 1963, she began her career in publishing at Macmillan, and became Export Manager for Latin America in 1966. After leaving Macmillan in 1968 for Regents Publishing, Teresa rose quickly professionally, holding positions of increasing responsibility at Regents where she served as Vice President. Regents was acquired by Simon & Schuster, where she became International Sales Manager.

In 1976, she joined her husband at Lectorum Publications, the largest Spanish-language book distributor in the United States, where she served as President and Editorial Director. At Lectorum she oversaw the acquisition, selection, and editorial development of Spanish-language books for children and young adults. After the acquisition of Lectorum by Scholastic, she continued to run Lectorum for Scholastic.

After her “retirement” in 2012, she and her husband founded Teresa Mlawer Publishing Solutions, providing consulting services on the Hispanic market to publishers, educators, and librarians.

Teresa was a pioneer in the field of Spanish-language literature for children and young adults. During her fifty years in publishing, she worked with publishers, educators, and librarians to increase access to the best authentic literature for Spanish-speaking children. She was also a strong and vocal advocate for Latin authors and illustrators in the United States.

Despite a very busy life, Teresa found the time to translate over 500 books from English to Spanish. In all of her translations, she strove to respect the authors’ voice and carefully chose language that could be understood by children from different cultural backgrounds.

Teresa was also the author of two bilingual children’s series: Fairy Tales/Cuentos de hadas and Timeless Tales/Fábulas de siempre, published by Adirondack Books.

Teresa touched the lives of everyone she knew in big and small ways. She will be remembered for her kindness, generosity, incredible work ethic, and tireless commitment to the people and causes she loved. Most importantly, Teresa will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, stepmother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

The family is currently working to establish a scholarship fund in Teresa’s name.