Florence “Fabulous Flo” Steinberg, the first member of Marvel’s editorial staff hired by Stan Lee, has died at the age of 78.  Steinberg graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1960, and took a job as Stan Lee’s secretary/Girl Friday, which meant that she had a part in just about everything Marvel in the early years of the Silver Age when Marvel’s editorial staff was just a two-person operation.

In addition to helping with the proofreading, editing, design, and production of the monthly comics, Flo was largely responsible for managing Marvel’s relationship with its fan base.   She edited the fan letters, wrote all the copy for the Merry Marvel Marching Society, and crafted the clever replies to readers’ letters.  In a statement issued after her death, Marvel called Flo the “heart of Marvel,” acknowledging her crucial efforts during the critical period when Marvel was able to establish itself despite the fact the comics industry as a whole was still reeling from the disastrous anti-comics campaigns of the mid-1950s.

Ironically in 1968 Marvel didn’t appear to value her contributions.  In fact the publisher let her walk after refusing to give her a $5 raise.  She eventually returned to Marvel in the 1990s and worked as a proofreader until 2017, but not before she published Big Apple Comix in 1975, a seminal publication that featured major mainstream artists like Neal Adams, Al Williamson, Denny O’Neill, Wally Wood, and Archie Goodwin, and gave them the opportunity to work outside the strictures and narrative limitations of the major comic book publishers.  Though it was influenced by the freedom of the underground comix movement, Big Apple Comix is now also seen as a bridge to today’s alternative comics.

Numerous creators who knew Flo have expressed their grief at her passing including Stan Lee who tweeted “Flo Steinberg was my 1st secretary @ Marvel. To most others it was just a job, to Flo it was her life’s work. Her passing is a great loss.”