Syd Silverman (January 23, 1932 – August 27, 2017) was the owner and publisher of '' Variety'' magazine.

Early life

Syd Silverman was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on January 23, 1932, to publisher Sidne Silverman and Broadway entertainer Marie (née Saxon) Silverman. He was the grandson of Sime Silverman, who founded '' Variety''. His father was

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and his mother was from

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. Raised in

Harrison, New York Harrison is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town and Administrative divisions of New York (state), village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York Cit ...

, Silverman was educated at the Manlius School and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, then served for two years in the U.S. Army.

Career

When Silverman's father, Sidne, died in 1950, he became the sole heir to what was then Variety Inc. As he was only 18, a legal guardian oversaw the business until 1956, before he took charge. After that date Syd managed the company as publisher of both the ''Weekly Variety'' in New York and the ''Daily Variety'' in Hollywood, until the sale of both papers in 1987 to

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for $64 million. He remained as publisher until 1990 and became chairman of both publications.

Personal life

Silverman's first wife, Jan McNally Silverman, a

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, died in 1997. They had four children, Michael, Mark, Matthew and Marie Silverman Marich. He later married Dr. Joan Hoffman. Silverman died on 27 August 2017 in

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, Florida, after a sudden illness. He was 85.

References

1932 births 2017 deaths American magazine editors Variety (magazine) people American publishing chief executives Businesspeople from New York City Manlius Pebble Hill School alumni Princeton University alumni United States Army officers American people of Jewish descent Silverman family 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub