Martin S. Ackerman
| Martin S. Ackerman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1932 |
| Died |
August 1, 1993 Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan |
| Cause of death | acute sepsis[1] |
| Residence |
Manhattan Sharon, Conn. Paris[1] |
| Education | Law degree |
| Alma mater |
Syracuse University Rutgers Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer & Businessman[1] |
| Home town | Rochester , NY |
| Spouse(s) |
Frances Shapiro Diane Leighton |
| Children |
Kelly L. Ackerman Debra Ackerman and Victoria Richardson Richard Ackerman |
| Parent(s) | Rebecca |
| Relatives |
Sister: Ruby Levy brother: Leonard Ackerman[1] |
Martin S. Ackerman (1932 – August 1, 1993) was a lawyer and businessman known for mergers and acquisitions.
Life
In 1932, Martin S. Ackerman was born to Rebecca Ackerman.[1]
Legal career
Raised in Rochester, NY, Ackerman then attended and graduated from Syracuse University. He then move on to law at Rutgers Law School. With his law degree he in 1957 became a partner in the Cooper, Ostrin, De Varco & Ackerman firm based in New York City. They were mergers and acquisitions specialists.[2]
Business career
Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation was form in 1962 by Ackerman from parts of his first four acquisitions: United Whelan Corporation, Hudson National, Perfect Photos and Equality Plastics Inc. Hudson was a mail-order firm and Equality Plastics Inc. was a consumer products distributor.[2] Perfect Film sold off Whelan drugstores and the Pathe Films Lab.[3] Ackerman's Perfect Film loaned $5 million into Curtis Publishing Company in 1968 at the request of Curtis' primary loan holder, First National Bank of Boston to extend its loans.[2] He was appointed president of Curtis.[3] Ackerman has Curtis sell for $7.3 million its Philadelphia headquarters to a real estate developer, John W. Merriam, and lease half the buildings back to pay off most of the First National loan.[2] In 1968, Curtis Publishing sold the Ladies' Home Journal, along with The American Home, to Downe Communications for $5.4 million in stock.[4][5] Ackerman has Curtis sell the Downe stock for operating cash. 6 million Post subscribers are sold to Life for cash, a 2.5 million dollar loan and become a customer of Curtis' subsidiaries for circulation and printing services. With all these attempts to revive the Post and lack of a purchaser, Curtis Publishing shut down the Evening Post in 1969.[3] A Curtis founder's descendant, stockholders and trustees sued Ackerman over his actions at Curtis. With the union suing over an alleged diversion of $6 million in pension fund diversion to invest in Lin Broadcasting.[1] For five weeks, he was president of Lin.[6] In 1969, Ackerman left Curtis and Perfect Film.[1]
By the mid-1970s, Ackerman moved to London. There he practiced tax law, was publishing Arts Review magazine and established Eaton House Publishers. In a dispute over support, his ex-wife went to England then back final winning in a 1982 Federal court ruling.[1] Ackerman also dabble in banking by helping form Republic National Bank on Fifth Avenue and owned for a time a Californian bank.[1]
At the time of his death, Martin served on the boards of Zales, Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems, Adience and Calton Home Builders.[1] On June 14, 1993, Ackerman was named chairman, president and chief executive officer of Standard Brands Paint Co. as part of the plan that brought the company out of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection.[7]
Death
Martin S. Ackerman died at age 61 on August 1, 1993 at Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan, from acute sepsis, after an operation .[1]
Books
Ackerman wrote many books including:
- "The Curtis Affair" (Nash, 1970)
- with Diane Leighton "Money, Power, Ego: A Manual for Would-be Wheeler-Dealers" (Playboy, 1976).[1]
Philanthropy
Ackerman established a foundation to donate art in the millions of dollars.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lambert, Bruce (August 4, 1993). "Martin Ackerman, 61, Publisher; Closed The Saturday Evening Post". The New York Times. New York, NY: The New York Times Company. Retrieved 08/10/2011. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - 1 2 3 4 "Magazines: New Man for Curtis". Time. May 3, 1968. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- 1 2 3 Welles, Chris (Feb 10, 1969). "Post-Mortem". New York Magazine. pp. 32–36. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Bedingfield, R. E. Curtis Publishing Sells 2 Magazines; Downe Paying $5.4-Million in Stock, The New York Times, August 15, 1968, Business and Finance section, p. 54.
- ↑ Anonymous. Too Few Believers. Time. Friday, Aug. 23, 1968
- ↑ LIN Broadcasting Corp. Gale Directory of Company Histories. International Directory of Company Histories. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc.
- ↑ Joshi, Pradnya (August 4, 1993). "Standard Brands CEO Ackerman Dies After Surgery on Intestine". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 08/10/2011. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help)