Tom Doherty (born April 23, 1935) is an American publisher and the founder of the science fiction and fantasy book publisher Tor Books. He started as a salesman for Pocket Books and rose to be Division Sales Manager. From there, he went to Simon & Schuster as National Sales Manager, then became publisher of paperbacks at Grosset & Dunlap, including Tempo Books, in 1969. In 1975, he became publisher for Ace Books. In 1979, he left Ace to establish his own company, Tom Doherty Associates, publishing under the Tor Books imprint starting in 1980, which has grown to become the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the United States.TDA became a subsidiary of St. Martin's Press in 1987; both are now separate divisions of Macmillan Publishers, ultimately owned by Holtzbrinck Publishers. Doherty continues as Chairman of Tom Doherty Associates, publishing under the Tor, Forge, Tordotcom, Starscape, Tor Teen, and Nightfire imprints.