Obituaries - Nov. 4, 1987

Herbert R. Mayes; Magazine Editor

Herbert R. Mayes, 87, a high school dropout from Harlem who rose to become editor of Good Housekeeping and McCall’s magazines. Mayes headed Good Housekeeping, a Hearst publication, for 20 years before moving in 1958 to McCall’s, one of its main rivals. He retired as president and chief executive of McCall Corp. in 1965. Under his leadership, McCall’s overtook Good Housekeeping and Ladies’ Home Journal in circulation and advertising revenue with a change in format, more and bolder use of color and more fiction. Friday in New York, of pneumonia.