Family Mourns Loss of Publishing Executive Killed in Boating Incident in Italy

The fam­i­ly of Adri­enne Vaugh­an, a pub­lish­ing exec­u­tive who died after an acci­dent involv­ing two boats off the Amal­fi Coast, released a state­ment express­ing their grief.

Mike White, Vaugh­an’s hus­band, said Adri­en­ne’s death at 45 years old has deeply affect­ed their fam­i­ly. She was a devot­ed moth­er, wife and col­league at Blooms­bury USA, where she was president.

White called the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing her death “impos­si­ble to com­pre­hend.” Ital­ian author­i­ties are inves­ti­gat­ing what occurred when a speed­boat col­lid­ed with a larg­er sail­boat car­ry­ing around 70 pas­sen­gers, includ­ing the Har­ry Pot­ter’s pub­lish­ing exec­u­tive Vaugh­an and her family.

The speed­boat’s dri­ver, 30-year-old Elio Per­si­co, faces charges relat­ed to oper­at­ing under the influ­ence of alco­hol and drugs. Offi­cials will work to deter­mine his lev­el of impair­ment and how it may have con­tributed to the crash.

White and oth­ers expressed hope that the inves­ti­ga­tion would iden­ti­fy those respon­si­ble and ensure appro­pri­ate account­abil­i­ty under Ital­ian law. The fam­i­ly is coop­er­at­ing with officials.

The pub­lish­ing exec­u­tive Vaugh­an was thrown from the sail­boat upon impact and sus­tained fatal injuries from the speed­boat’s pro­peller. White required surgery for a shoul­der injury. Their chil­dren received treat­ment for shock but were not phys­i­cal­ly harmed.

The New York fam­i­ly had been vaca­tion­ing in Italy when tragedy struck dur­ing a wed­ding recep­tion aboard the sail­boat. The inves­ti­ga­tion aims to estab­lish exact­ly what tran­spired and bring clo­sure to all affect­ed by this loss of life.