Luce, Henry R

Luce, Henry R(obinson)

(born April 3, 1898, Dengzhou, Shandong province, China—died Feb. 28, 1967, Phoenix, Ariz., U.S.) U.S. magazine publisher. Luce was born to U.S. missionary parents. He graduated from Yale University in 1920. While at Yale he had met Briton Hadden, with whom he launched Time in 1923. He added the business magazine Fortune in 1929 and Life magazine in 1936. Among other Luce magazines were House & Home, established in 1952, and Sports Illustrated, launched in 1954. His publications, founded as means of educating what Luce considered a poorly informed U.S. public, had many imitators, and Luce became one of the most powerful figures in the history of U.S. journalism. Both he and his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, had a major influence on the Republican Party and on national affairs.