Andrew Paulson
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Andrew Meredith Paulson (November 13, 1958 – July 18, 2017) was an American entrepreneur. Born in
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...
, he was the son of noted American professor
Ronald Paulson Ronald Howard Paulson (May 27, 1930 – August 7, 2024) was an American writer and professor of English who was a specialist in English 18th-century art and culture, and the world's leading expert on English artist William Hogarth. Education ...
. During his early years he worked with oncology and neurophysiology researchers at
Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...
,
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
and at the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
. As an undergraduate he ran the classical music program at WYBC, a commercial radio station, and founded The New Theater Company where he produced and directed numerous plays. Paulson graduated with a BA in French Literature and Literary Criticism from Yale University in 1981, and attended the
Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...
. From 1982 to 86 he lived in Berlin and Paris, writing novels; from 1987 to 93 he lived in Paris, London and Milan, shooting fashion and advertising photography. During this period he co-founded (with Gilles Dusein) the Paris conceptual photography gallery Urbi et Orbi, and co-founded (with Kurt Novack) a graphic design studio, Pourriture Noble. In 1991,
David Hirson David Hirson (born 1958) is an American dramatist, best known for his award-winning Broadway comedies, ''La Bête (play), La Bête'' and ''Wrong Mountain''. Biography Hirson was born in New York City to actress Alice Hirson, Alice and playwright ...
’s celebrated play '' La Bête'' was premiered on Broadway and in London. Valère, the principal character, is said to be largely based on the young Paulson. The
Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
-inspired comedy, written in rhyming iambic pentameter, is set in 17th-century France and Valère’s 30-minute manic monologue, a theatrical tour-de-force, has become a staple of the modern American repertory. The play was reprised in 2010 on Broadway and in the West End, with
Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (; born 18 January 1960) is an English actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen, having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Oliv ...
as Valère. In October, 2013, another play -- ''Virtual, or the Life and Adventures of Andrew Paulson, Entrepreneur'' (Виртуал, или Жизнь и Приключения Эндрю Полсона, Предпринимателя) -- written by Julia Idlis, commissioned by Theatre Praktika (Moscow) premiered as part of its highly regarded series "Человек.doc". First invited to Russia by Dmitri Hvorostovsky to make a photo-reportage in the summer of 1993, Paulson began developing publishing projects in Moscow: Delovie Lyudi (Russian: Деловые люди) for the French Groupe Hersant, Ponedyelnik (Russian:Понедельник), an independent news/business weekly in partnership with Len Blavatnik, and Vechernyaya Moskva (Russian: Вечерняя Москва) a bi-weekly entertainment listings publication. Shortly after the
1998 Russian financial crisis The Russian financial crisis (also called the ruble crisis or the Russian flu) began in Russia on 17 August 1998. It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the Russian rouble, ruble and sovereign default, defau ...
, Paulson, together with Anton Kudryashov and Ilya Tsentsiper, founded Afisha, an entertainment and listings magazine that became the cultural touchstone of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Bolshoi Gorod (Russian: Большой Город), a free bi-weekly ”Sunday Magazine Section to a daily newspaper that doesn’t exist", was launched in 2002, and MIR, a monthly glossy travel magazine, was launched in 2003. To this day
Afisha Publishing House
sets the high-water mark for local entertainment magazine publishing in Russia and has produced a generation of journalists now transforming the popular culture's landscape. The business was acquired by the Russian media group ProfMedia in 2005. In 2006, Paulson with
Alexander Mamut Alexander Leonidovich Mamut (; born 29 January 1960) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire, oligarch, lawyer, banker and investor. Until 2020, he was a co-owner of Rambler Group. In June 2022, ''Forbes'' estimated Mamut's net worth at $2 billion. ...
founded
SUP Media SUP (Russian: ''СУП'', which means 'soup') is an international online media company, founded in Moscow in mid-2006 by Andrew Paulson and Alexander Mamut. Its ownership is split between Mamut, Kommersant Publishing House and management. SUP' ...
, which became one of the Russia's largest online media companies, consisting of
LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...
(the principal blogging platform/social network in Russia during 2000's), Championat (notable sports site in Russia in 2000's), Gazeta.Ru (popular news site in Russia), and an online sales house +SOL. In 2009,
Kommersant (, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...
Publishing House acquired a shareholding in SUP; Paulson was chairman of the Board of Directors. In 2012, Paulson founded AGON Ltd, which was accorded the exclusive, long-term rights from
FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
(World Chess Federation) to develop, organize and commercialize the
World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...
cycle. The first events were to be held in 2013 in London, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Berlin and Istanbul. In October 2013 he was elected president of the
English Chess Federation The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an internation ...
. He resigned six months later. Paulson was on the advisory boards of several charities, foundations and technology companies: The Human Dignity Trust, The Weidenfeld Scholarships at Oxford, State, and M.I.P.R.. He died on July 18, 2017, in London from lung cancer.


References


External links


SUP homepage


{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulson, Andrew 1958 births 2017 deaths American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews Yale University alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni People from Champaign, Illinois Deaths from lung cancer in England 21st-century American Jews Chess officials