Martin S. Ackerman

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Martin S. Ackerman
Born1932
Died(1993-08-01)August 1, 1993 (age 61)
Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan, New York, US
EducationLaw degree
Alma materSyracuse University
Rutgers Law School
OccupationLawyer and businessman[1]
Spouse(s)Frances Shapiro
Diane Leighton
Children4

Martin S. Ackerman (1932 – August 1, 1993) was a lawyer and businessman known for mergers and acquisitions.

Biography[]

In 1932, Martin S. Ackerman was born to Rebecca Ackerman.[1] He has two siblings, Ruby Ackerman Levy and Leonard Ackerman.[1]

Legal career[]

Raised in Rochester, New York, Ackerman then attended and graduated from Syracuse University. He then studied law at Rutgers Law School. In 1957 became a partner in the Cooper, Ostrin, De Varco & Ackerman law firm based in New York City. They were mergers and acquisitions specialists.[2]

Business career[]

Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation was formed 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]

In 1968, Ackerman's Perfect Film loaned $5 million into Curtis Publishing Company 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 had 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 had Curtis sell the Downe stock for operating cash. 6 million Post subscribers were sold to Life for cash, a 2.5 million dollar loan and became 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. The union sued over an alleged diversion of $6 million in pension fund diversion to invest in .[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 .

In a dispute over support, his ex-wife went to England, then back, finally winning in a 1982 federal court ruling.[1]

Ackerman also dabbled 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, , and .[1] On June 14, 1993, Ackerman was named chairman, president and chief executive officer of as part of the plan that brought the company out of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection.[7]

Personal life and death[]

Ackerman married twice. His first wife was Frances Shapiro.[1] They divorced and he remarried to Diane Leighton.[1] Ackerman died at age 61 on August 1, 1993 at Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan, from acute sepsis, after an operation.[1] He was survived by his wife, his son, Richard Ackerman, and his three daughters, Kelly L. Ackerman, Debra Ackerman, and Victoria Ackerman Richardson.[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 worth millions of dollars.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 August 10, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Magazines: New Man for Curtis". Time. May 3, 1968. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c Welles, Chris (Feb 10, 1969). "Post-Mortem". New York Magazine. pp. 32–36. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Anonymous. Too Few Believers. Time. Friday, Aug. 23, 1968
  6. ^ LIN Broadcasting Corp. Gale Directory of Company Histories. International Directory of Company Histories. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc.
  7. ^ Joshi, Pradnya (August 4, 1993). "Standard Brands CEO Ackerman Dies After Surgery on Intestine". Los Angeles Times.
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