Their paternal grandmother Neltje Blanchan De Greff published books on gardens and birds.

After Deerfield, Doubleday attended Princeton, where he earned a degree in economics, and played baseball, football and ice hockey.

Upon his graduation in 1955, Doubleday served in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

[4] Growing up as the son and grandson of owners of a major book publishing house, Nelson Doubleday Jr. was determined to join the family business.

Entering Doubleday as a young man as an assistant in the promotion and subsidiary rights departments, he learned the business by progressing through a variety of positions.

Doubleday died of pneumonia at his Locust Valley, New York, home on June 17, 2015, aged 81.