An editor, Congdon worked on books, giving authors detailed responses to their manuscripts to help improve their work. As an example, author A. Scott Berg recalled a manuscript he turned in that imitated the style of other writers, including Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe.
“I did three or four drafts under Tom’s tutelage,” Berg recalled, “and I remember once, he circled a paragraph, and he said: ‘You know who this sounds like? Nobody. Write the whole book like this. That’s your voice.’” Berg’s book, Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius *, went on to win the National Book Award in 1980.
Congdon also worked on bestsellers like Peter Benchley’s Jaws (1974), and David Halberstam’s The Reckoning (1986). “Tom’s motto was that an editor should make love to his writer,” said author Christopher Buckley. “And Tom’s writers felt made love to. I know I did.” Congdon died December 23 from Parkinson’s disease and congestive heart failure. He was 77.