Moses Annenberg

Moses Annenberg
Born February 11, 1877
East Prussia (German Empire
Died July 20, 1942
Occupation Businessman
Spouse(s) Sadie Freedman
Children 1 son, 7 daughters
Relatives Wallis Annenberg (granddaughter)

Moses "Moe" Louis Annenberg (February 11, 1877 – July 20, 1942) was a Jewish American newspaper publisher, who purchased The Philadelphia Inquirer, the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States.[1] in 1936. The Inquirer has the sixteenth largest average weekday U.S. newspaper circulation, and has won eighteen Pulitzer Prizes.[2]

Early life

Moses Annenberg was born in East Prussia (German Empire) in 1877 to a Jewish family. He left Germany and immigrated to Chicago in 1900.[3]

Career

Annenberg began his career as a Chicago newspaper salesman at the Chicago Tribune, then, for the Hearst Corporation. He eventually built a fortune and the successful publishing company that became Triangle Publications, Inc., owning, among other publications, the Daily Racing Form. During the Roosevelt administration, he was indicted for tax evasion and, after pleading guilty, was sentenced to two years; he died in prison.[4]

Several sources have documented his links to organized crime, such as his involvement in Chicago's "Circulation Wars" and his later ownership of the National Racing Wire, though it is widely under reported.[5][6][7]

Annenberg was indicted on August 11, 1939 for income tax evasion for the years 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936 totaling $3,258,809.97 in income taxes evaded.[8] On April 4, 1940 Annenberg plead guilty to the 1936 income tax evasion count in the indictment which charged him with evading $1,217,296 in taxes.[9] Judge James Herbert Wilkerson, the same judge who previously sentenced Al Capone, sentenced Annenberg to three years in prison and a fine of $8,000,000 "the largest single tax fraud penalty in history" at the time.[9]

Personal life

He and his wife, Sadie Cecillia née Freedman (1879-1965) were the parents of one son, the publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg and seven daughters;[10] Diana Annenberg (1900-1905), Esther “Aye” Annenberg Simon Levee (1901-1992), Janet Annenberg Hooker (1904-1997),[11] Enid Annenberg Haupt (1906-2005),[4] Lita Annenberg Hazen (1909-1985),[12] Evelyn Annenberg Jaffe Hall (1911-2005),[13] and Harriet Beatrice Annenberg Ames Aronson (1914-1976).

His Ranch A in eastern Wyoming is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Death

Annenberg died on July 20, 1942.

References

  1. Wilkinson, Gerry. "The History of the Philadelphia Inquirer". Philadelphia Press Association. Retrieved 2006-05-27.
  2. "Top 100 Newspapers US Daily Newspapers" (PDF). Audit Bureau of Circulations. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  3. http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=4900022
  4. 1 2 "Enid A Haupt Philanthropist keen on gardens and youth" "The Guardian",1 Nov 2005 Haupt obituary in the Guardian
  5. The History of the Mafia in the US, 2006
  6. The Art of the Steal, 2009
  7. J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and His Secrets, 2001.
  8. Irey, Elmer L. & Slocum, William J. The Tax Dodgers. New York: Greenberg 1948.
  9. 1 2 Folsom, Robert G. The Money Trail: how Elmer Irey and his T-Men brought down America's criminal elite. Washington D.C.: Potomac Books 2010.
  10. http://www.davidandcarole.info/AnnenbergMosesWalter.html
  11. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/16/nyregion/janet-a-hooker-philanthropist-dies-at-93.html
  12. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/03/obituaries/lita-hazen-patron-of-sciences-dies-at-85.html

Further reading

External links

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