Publisher Barbara Grier died on November 10, 2011 in a Tallahassee, Florida hospital, where she was being treated for cancer. Best known as one of the founders of Naiad Press, which became America's foremost publisher of lesbian books, Grier expressed her commitment to lesbian literature in a number of ways, including as collector, reviewer, bibliographer, and editor.

In 1957, Grier, already a collector of lesbian writings, subscribed to The Ladder, the magazine of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). She soon began writing for the magazine herself, contributing book notes, reviews, articles, and short stories under several pseudonyms. From 1968 to 1972, she edited the publication.

In 1973, with Anyda Marchant and Muriel Crawford, Grier and her partner Donna McBride founded Naiad Press. In the 1980s, the press burgeoned into the world's largest publisher of lesbian books. It ceased operation in 2005.

Grier and McBride won a Lambda Literary Award in 1991 in the Publisher's Service category.

In 1995, Grier and McBride donated their collection of lesbiana to the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center of the San Francisco Public Library. The collection, valued at $400,000 at the time of its donation, comprises more than fifteen thousand books, monographs, and manuscripts. It also includes photographs and items of memorabilia.

Grier is survived by McBride, her partner in life and in business. The couple married in California in 2008.