Oct 2, 2002 7 min read

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Walter H. Annenberg, the billionaire philanthropist who made much of his fortune by introducing TV Guide to America’s living rooms during television’s golden age, died Tuesday at 94. Annenberg, who also served as ambassador to Great Britain and endowed two leading communications schools, died at his home in suburban Wynnewood of complications from pneumonia, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

His wife, Leonore, was with him when he died.

Annenberg was a friend to U.S. presidents from Dwight Eisenhower onward and routinely hosted leaders, luminaries and royalty at his Rancho Mirage, Calif., estate.

“Walter Annenberg’s life serves as a shining example of generosity, patriotism and dedication to serving others,” said President Bush. “As ambassador to Great Britain, he was an outstanding representative of America to the world. As a business leader and an innovator, he understood the media’s impact on American culture and encouraged television to be a positive influence on society.”

Former presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush praised him for his service as a diplomat, philanthropist and entrepreneur.

Nancy Reagan described Annenberg as one of her and former President Reagan’s “closest friends for half a century.”

“He gave of himself as a statesman, a philanthropist, a patriot,” she said in a statement. “Walter Annenberg’s legacy is not the fortune he amassed, but the unprecedented gifts he bestowed on the youth of our country. Walter Annenberg accomplished what no government program ever could.”

Jamieson said there would be a private memorial service for Annenberg’s family followed by a public service.

Annenberg, the only son among eight children of publisher Moses Annenberg, inherited The Philadelphia Inquirer and two racing publications from his father and went on to build Triangle Publications into a multibillion-dollar business encompassing newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations.

Forbes magazine listed Annenberg as one of the wealthiest Americans, ranking him No. 39 in 2002 with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.

He also became a noted art connoisseur. In 1991 he donated his $1 billion personal collection of Impressionist and early modern masterpieces to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art – a gift that museum director Philippe de Montebello said made Annenberg “one of the greatest philanthropists in our history.”

His appointment by President Nixon as ambassador to England in 1969 raised controversy because of his lack of experience in foreign affairs. But he and his wife, Leonore, wound up charming British society during their 51/2 years there.

“Practically everybody who has so far met the Annenbergs here – in sharp contrast to those who have read sour comments on their riches – carries away vivid impressions of warmth, generosity and a robust love of all things English,” one English columnist wrote.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger remembered Annenberg as an “infinitely thoughtful” diplomat, who paved the way for good relations with lavish gift-giving, but also understood policy.

“He overcame all the angling that was going on and established himself in Great Britain as a man of concern and common sense, and great reliability,” he said. “On every major issue, and on every disputed issue, he was a force.”

Among his philanthropies were public television, the universities of Pennsylvania and Southern California, the United Negro College Fund, the state of Israel and several hospitals.

In June 1993, he announced $365 million in gifts in a single day: $120 million each to Penn and Southern Cal; $100 million to the Peddie School, a prep school in Hightstown, N.J., that he had attended; and $25 million to Harvard University.

That December, he was applauded by President Clinton and others as he announced $500 million in grants for public school reform. Last month, Annenberg gave $100 million each to the Annenberg Schools for Communication at Penn and USC.

Annenberg said he was deeply troubled by school violence.

“We must ask ourselves whether improving education will halt the violence,” he said. “If anyone can think of a better way, we may have to try that. But the way I see this tragedy, education is the most wholesome and effective approach.”

Walter Hubert Annenberg was born March 13, 1908, in Milwaukee, to Moses and Sadie Annenberg.

His father started out as a newspaper circulation executive in Chicago. He began to build his own empire by venturing into various publications, including a track tip sheet in Chicago. Walter Annenberg was born during those building-up years. The elder Annenberg finally moved the family to Philadelphia and bought the Inquirer.

But while Moses Annenberg prospered, he fell afoul of tax laws and was sentenced in 1940 to three years for tax evasion. He was released for treatment of a brain tumor and died in 1942, leaving his son in charge of the family business. His sisters shared in the inheritance.

Some of Annenberg’s biographers say his father’s legal troubles and his death provided the impetus for his career. A plaque kept by Annenberg stated his driving force, “to reflect honor on my father’s memory.”

Annenberg added the Philadelphia Daily News to his newspaper properties and branched out into magazines. He founded Seventeen, the fashion and beauty monthly for teenage girls, in 1944. It was edited by his sister, Enid Haupt, who survives him.

Nine years later, in 1953, he established TV Guide, believing that television’s growth would create a demand for program listings and entertainment news. The magazine grew to a circulation of more than 14 million.

Eventually his Triangle Publications holding company acquired six radio and six television stations in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and California.

He sold the two Philadelphia dailies to Knight Newspapers for $55 million in 1970, and a year later, for millions more, sold his radio and TV stations. In 1988 he sold all the remaining Triangle properties, including TV Guide, to magnate Rupert Murdoch for $3 billion.

Annenberg, despite his newspaper background, rarely talked to reporters.

He did briefly discuss his 1991 decision to leave his art collection to New York’s Metropolitan, instead of to his hometown Philadelphia Museum of Art. “I happen to believe that strength should go to strength,” he said.

The collection included some of the best works of van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Matisse, Gauguin, Degas and Picasso.

He called his paintings “members of my family” and declined to say which painting he loved the best. “I love them dearly,” he said. “Would you single out a favorite if you have several children?”

Annenberg was a silent power broker in the Republican Party and one of its biggest contributors. His newspapers were outspoken on editorial pages on behalf of GOP causes.

Annenberg had a son, Roger, and daughter, Wallis, with his first wife Veronica Dunkelman, whom he divorced in 1950. The son died in 1962.

With his second wife, the former Leonore Rosenstiel, he often played host to former Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and also English royalty, the result of good relations created during his ambassador days.

During Reagan’s first term, his wife served as White House protocol chief.

Leonore has two daughters from previous marriages, Diane Deshong and Elizabeth Kabler. Including Deshong’s and Kabler’s offspring, Annenberg had seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He is survived by two sisters, Haupt and Evelyn Hall.

Among awards given to Annenberg were the Medal of Freedom awarded in 1986 by President Reagan and the Alfred Dupont Award for pioneering education via television.

Among the schools giving him honorary degrees were the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Notre Dame, University of Southern California and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.