Short answers, pulled from the story.
DAW Books was founded by Donald A. Wollheim and his wife Elsie B. Wollheim after Donald left Ace Books in 1971. The company's first book, Spell of the Witch World by Andre Norton, was published in 1972.
DAW are the initials of the company's founder, Donald A. Wollheim. He established the press with his wife Elsie B. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books.
C. J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station won the Hugo Award for best novel in 1982, making it the first DAW book to receive that honor.
Until June 1984, DAW gave every book a yellow spine and a prominent yellow cover box containing the company's logo and a sequential publication number. The design served as a distinctive visual identity on bookstore shelves. When the design changed, the chronological number was retained on the copyright page as the DAW Collectors' Book Number.
Astra Publishing House acquired DAW Books in July 2022. Before the acquisition, DAW was closely held by Betsy Wollheim and Sheila E. Gilbert, who had run it as an editorially independent company with distribution through Penguin Group.
DAW's catalog includes Marion Zimmer Bradley, Roger Zelazny, Fritz Leiber, C. J. Cherryh, Patrick Rothfuss, Tad Williams, Mercedes Lackey, Nnedi Okorafor, and Seanan McGuire, among many others. The press published most of its early titles as paperback originals.