Donald Emory Welsh (October 6, 1943 – February 6, 2010) was a magazine publisher and editor.

Early life

Welsh was born in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

. His parents were Clevelle and Edward Welsh. Welsh studied at Columbia College. While there, he was a member of

St. Anthony Hall St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectar ...

. He then attended the

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It traces its origins to Cleveland Law School, founded in 1897, which merged in 1946 with the John Marsh ...

Career

After being admitted to the Ohio

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

, he worked for the

Cleveland Trust Company KeyBank is an American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 27th largest bank in the United States. Organized under the publicly traded KeyCorp, KeyBank was formed from the 1994 merger of the Cleveland-based Society Corpora ...

. He soon moved on to the magazine business, starting at ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' in the advertising department. From there, he moved to ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', rising to the position of associate publisher. He went on to be the founding editor of ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

''. Welsh left ''Outside'' to run the magazine division of another business group, where he focused largely on children's magazines. He created more than twenty magazines, based on well-known franchises such as

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

, the

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ''Mighty Power Rangers'' (''MMPR'') is an American superhero television series that premiered on August 28, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block. It is the first entry of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, and became a 1990s popular culture, ...

, the Muppets. He bought the division in 1987, and named it Welsh Publishing Group. He sold Welsh Publishing Group to

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

in October 1994, but agreed to stay on with the company. In 1998, He co-founded ''Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel'' with

Arthur Frommer Arthur Bernard Frommer () (July 17, 1929 – November 18, 2024) was an American travel writer known for founding the Frommer's brand of travel guides. Early life Arthur Bernard Frommer was born on July 17, 1929, in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son ...

. it sold some 70,000 copies of each issue in newsstand headed toward a circulation of 400,000 by the end of 1999, but struggled to expand its presence.Kerwin, Ann Marie. 2000. “`Budget Travel’ Moves into Newsweek’s Domain.” ''Advertising Age'' 71 (1): 4. via EBSCO, accessed June 11, 2022. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=2641288&site=eds-live&scope=site . It was sold to ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' in 1999. In 2002, he created ''Budget Living'' magazine to critical acclaim, but not commercial success. However, it won the general excellence award from the

American Society of Magazine Editors The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) is an industry trade group for magazine journalists and editors of magazines published in the United States. ASME includes the editorial leaders of most major consumer magazine in print and digital ...

. He also created the magazine ''ForbesLife MountainTime'' with Forbes.

Personal life

In 1996, Welsh married Bourne Floyd. They lived in Boston Corner, New York. They had a daughter named Leah. Welsh died of drowning, in an accident in

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

, the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Donald 1943 births 2010 deaths People from Youngstown, Ohio Columbia College (New York) alumni St. Anthony Hall Cleveland State University College of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers American publishers (people) American magazine people Rolling Stone people Deaths by drowning Accidental deaths in the British Virgin Islands