Annenberg, Walter (1908-2002), was an American businessman and philanthropist. He built a publishing and broadcasting empire that included big-city newspapers, magazines, and television and radio stations across the United States. Annenberg served under President Richard M. Nixon as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1974. Annenberg accumulated a great fortune over the course of his life, and devoted his later years to philanthropic causes, particularly relating to higher education, communications, and the arts.
Walter Hubert Annenberg was born on March 13, 1908, in Milwaukee. He was the only son of the publisher Moses Annenberg. After briefly attending the University of Pennsylvania, Walter joined the family publishing business in 1929. He assumed control of the business in 1940 when his father began a two-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
The Annenberg family’s publishing business, Triangle Publications, grew dramatically under Walter’s leadership. The business developed into a diversified media company. The company’s successes included Seventeen magazine, launched in 1944, and the weekly publication TV Guide, established in 1953.
In 1988, Annenberg sold Triangle Publications to Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born owner of a global media empire. A year later, Annenberg established the Annenberg Foundation, a charitable organization that finances a variety of programs in education and the humanities. He died on Oct. 1, 2002.
See also Annenberg Foundation .
