Agent and Publishing Mogul William Gladstone passes away at the age of 74.
The hearts of his family and friends will miss him and his brilliance deeply. William “Bill" built a happy, loving family and a powerhouse of a company that will continue to thrive thanks to the foundation he laid over the last four decades. He leaves behind his wife, Gayle Gladstone, who will continue to play a leading role in the company.
He also leaves behind his daughter Tara Gladstone, son Cyrus Gladstone, and other family who are steeped in the media world.
His adored grandchildren Titus and Arella Gladstone will continue to carry on his love of life, family, and making a big impact on the world all while enjoying golf, tennis, skiing and time at the ocean with the rest of the family members whom loved Bill and called him grandpa.
Bill was such a force in the publishing world that he was approached by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, in the early part of his idea to launch a company selling books and items online for a lower cost margin but larger market share. He turned down the idea of a partnership because he was already very busy with his own company. He was a publishing legend like his father and didn’t think the idea made sense. Years later, he would chuckle at that idea.
Bill Gladstone founded Waterside Productions, Inc. in 1982 has personally placed more than 5000 titles with dozens of publishers. He has represented stars of the technical world ranging from Peter Norton to Linus Torvalds and was responsible for selling the first “For Dummies” book, DOS for Dummies by Dan Gookin, which led to the phenomenal series which now has sold over 200 million copies.
Waterside Productions represents individual authors such as spiritual teachers Eckhart Tolle, Dr. Barbara DeAngelis, and Neale Donald Walsch, radio talk show host Thom Hartman, international peace advocate Dr. Ervin Laszlo, philanthropist Shari Arison, New York Times bestselling author Victor Villasenor, environmental activists Michael Tobias, Paul Ehrlich, Hunter Lovins, and many other outstanding authors and professionals dedicated to creating books which inspire and improve the world.
Bill Gladstone is also the author of DR. AND MASTER SHA: MIRACLE SOUL HEALER, the best-selling novels THE TWELVE and THE POWER OF TWELVE, co-author with Jack Canfield of THE GOLDEN MOTORCYCLE GANG, BE THE DEAL, as well as producer of the film TAPPING THE SOURCE and co-author of the book TAPPING THE SOURCE (released in paperback as THE COMPLETE MASTER KEY SYSTEM).
Watersides’s mission is to help authors and publishers create and distribute books that bring knowledge, joy and wisdom to the world.
In the book Tapping the Source, Bill details a near death experience at the age of 15. In the details that one minute he was given a penicillin shot by a doctor and the next thing he remembers is feeling like he was in utter bliss. That was, until he found himself drawn to watching a scene from above of a doctor desperately trying to revive a boy and realizing the body of the boy in the scene he was watching from above was his body.
He felt non attachment to the body but only felt compelled to go back to his body to ease the doctor who was frantically trying to save the boy whose organs had shut down from a terrible allergic reaction of a shot he had administered.
We don’t know how long Bill’s vitals had stopped, but we do know that near-death experience changed his life and shaped him to be a person who had a much deeper perspective on life and much more defined mission to uplift humaity and make the world a better place.
We have a deep knowing that Bill is back to that familiar bliss after a full life and countless gifts he shared with the world and precious moments he bestowed upon his family and friends.
His presence will continue to be with his family, and company, Waterside Productions, and we proudly carry on his legacy, integrity and love for the world and its inhabitants.
Watch Bill in an interview on https://waterside.com on "How to set goals for the next few years."
Gayle Gladstone
The Waterside Team