Date: 8/8/25 8:41 am From: Ragupathy Kannan <0000013b0ad14faf-dmarc-request...> Subject: In Memoriam: Mary Yarbrough
Mary Suffudy Yarbrough died in Fort Smith on August 4, 2025. She was born in Ranger, Texas, on December 2, 1946 to Scott and Dorothy Griffith Suffudy. In 1950 the family moved to Booneville, Arkansas, where Mary grew up. After graduating from Booneville High School, she attended Stephens College, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree before moving to New York where she worked as an editor and publisher of illustrated books.
Her career in publishing began at Chanticleer Press as Associate Editor of the first editions of the Audubon Society Field Guides to North American Birds, which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List for more than a year and which, through several editions, remain in print today. She subsequently devised and developed a series of wildlife habitat books that received the New York Academy of Sciences Award for Excellence and were translated into six languages.
After a decade at Chanticleer, Mary joined Watson-Guptill Publications, the book division of Billboard Publications, as Acquisitions Editor of Art and Design. She was later appointed Editorial Director and Publisher with responsibility for all company imprints covering areas of art, interior and graphic design, architecture, photography, music, and theater.
In 2001 Mary returned to Arkansas with her husband Mike Jackson, who died in 2006. In 2016, in Fort Smith, she married Jerry Yarbrough with whom she lived lovingly and joyfully until his death in January 2025. Mary is survived by her stepdaughter Susan Jackson Rodgers of Corvallis, Oregon, and by many wonderful, deeply cherished friends. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home.https://www.swtimes.com/obituaries/park1249687
