Henry R. Luce

            Henry R. Luce will forever maintain a spot in history as one of the most important people in journalism because he founded Time magazine. In addition to Time, he and his partner founded Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated magazines. His support of photojournalism paved the path for the rise in that, and his dedication allowed for some of the most successful publications to date.

            Luce was born in 1898 in China. He attended a British boarding school, and from there, he eventually transferred to Hotchkin in Connecticut. He was a star student at all of the schools he attended, and he eventually became an editor of Yale’s publication. Yale is where he met his future business partner, Briton Hadden.

            The two writers decided to start their own weekly newsmagazine, and Time was their personal political outlet. The magazine faced criticism for publishing such slanted news, to which Luce responded that his magazine would display "a prejudice against the rising cost of government; faith in the things which money cannot buy, a respect for the old, particularly in manners." The magazine was also influential in creating a style of writing that used double adjectives, and inventing words such as “tycoon,” from the Japanese word for prince.

            Despite the magazine's immense success, Luce is noted for living inconspicuously and paying his workers generously. People from all political ideologies respected Luce’s policies and work ethic, and anyone who worked for him respected him even more.

            Luce was Editor-in-Chief of all of his publications until his retirement in 1964. Time Inc. is a prime example of media synergism because the empire expanded based upon the needs and desires of society. Each magazine covered a specific area of media, and each complemented the other, creating an extremely profitable and successful corporation. Time and Sports Illustrated are among the few publications that are still holding strong. Therefore, Luce’s legacy will remain intact and important as long as the magazines remain relevant.

Additional sources: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0403.html; http://www.biography.com/people/henry-r-luce-38240; http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/350535/Henry-R-Luce