FORBES, MALCOLM STEVENSON

Millionaire Malcolm Forbes (1919–1990), the publisher of Forbes magazine from 1957 to 1990, converted a business publication his father started into one of the most influential in the United States. The younger Forbes' exuberant lifestyle, combining business and pleasure, and his unabashed enjoyment of his wealth, made him a singular personality in the normally staid business community.

Forbes inherited his wealth from his father, who established his son as owner and publisher at the Fairfield Times, a weekly newspaper in Lancaster, Ohio, only days after his graduation from Princeton University. In later life he was fond of saying that he had been loaded with "sheer ability (spelled i-n-h-e-ri-t-a-n-c-e)." That quip belied his real talent and ability. At Princeton he was awarded the Class of 1901 Medal as a member of the class of 1941 who "contributed the most to Princeton as an undergraduate."

Forbes was also a genuine war hero of World War II (1939–1945) who was wounded in combat and received both the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service as an infantry staff sergeant of a heavy machine gun section serving in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Following his discharge from the Army in 1945 he joined Forbes magazine. He successively held positions as associate publisher, publisher, editor, editor-in-chief, vice president, and president.

During the 1950s Forbes was also active in politics. In 1951 he was elected to the New Jersey State Senate; in 1957—the year he became editor-in-chief and publisher of Forbes—he made an unsuccessful run for the New Jersey governorship. In 1964 he took over the family business as president of Forbes, Inc.

According to Advertising Age, Forbes "expanded the magazine his father created in 1917 into a publishing powerhouse—whether measured in circulation, advertising revenue, or the trepidation with which CEOs awaited stories about their companies." With a circulation of 750,000 copies (of which 250,000 were reported as sold to millionaires), Forbes became one of the most influential and successful business magazines in the United States. In the early 1960s the publication's advertising revenues stood at nearly $2 million; at the time of Forbes's death this expense was well beyond $150 million. Forbes's own net worth, which he never included in his magazine's annual list of the nation's four hundred richest citizens, was estimated between $400 million and __BODY__ billion.

Forbes's lavish lifestyle and charismatic personality were central to the success of his company. His well-publicized hobbies and interests included his no-table collection of Faberge eggs, expensive motorcycles, and opulent retreats in France, Tangiers, and Fiji, as well as a Colorado ranch and a New Jersey estate. He used his lavish parties, ballooning adventures, and trips on his luxurious yacht Highlander to woo advertisers and top executives. "On the Highlander, we entertain anywhere from thirty to fifty CEOs and their wives," he said in a 1989 interview in Forbes. "The event is the medium's message bearer. Nobody makes a direct pitch. It's a group sell, but the real selling is done oneon-one when the salesman with the account calls on the agency media buyers, and the account executives and the higher men in the hierarchy call on the directors."

All the publicity about Forbes' lifestyle masked his hard work and dedication to the magazine. He was usually in his office by six a.m. "It's fun to be at your desk when you're the boss," he said in the same Forbes interview. "You can't be successful if you don't love what you're doing. Whatever really turns you on does it. Psychic income is what real income is used for anyway." Malcolm Forbes died in 1990.

FORBES, MALCOLM STEVENSON

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