Generoso Paul "Gene" Pope Jr. (1927–1988) was an American

media mogul A media proprietor, also called a media executive, media mogul, media tycoon, or press baron is an entrepreneur who controls any means of public or commercial mass media, through the personal ownership or holding of a dominant position within a ...

, best known for creating ''

The National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips ( checkbook journalism), a ...

'' as it is known today.

Early life

Pope was born on January 13, 1927. His father,

Generoso Pope Generoso Pope (April 1, 1891 – April 28, 1950) was an Italian-American businessman and the owner of a chain of Italian-language newspapers in major American cities. Family Generoso was born with the name Generoso Antonio Pompilio Carlo Papa ...

, was a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

political powerbroker and quarry magnate whose Italian-American newspaper interests included the '' Corriere d'America'' and the daily ''

Il Progresso Italo-Americano ''Il Progresso Italo-Americano'' was an Italian-language daily newspaper in the United States, published in New York City from 1880 to 1988, when it was shut down due to a union dispute. In 1989, most journalists of ''Il Progresso'' reunited to cr ...

''. Generoso Pope Sr. is said to have had ties to New York crime boss

Frank Costello Frank Costello (; born Francesco Castiglia ; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. Born in Italy, he moved with his family to the United States as a child. As a youth he joined N ...

, and at the birth of his son asked Costello to be the godfather. Pope was educated at the

Horace Mann School Horace Mann School (also known as Horace Mann or HM) is an American private, independent college-preparatory school in the Bronx, founded in 1887. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from the New Yo ...

. He graduated from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where he earned at age 19 a bachelor's degree in general engineering in 1946.

Career

Pope took over the daily operations of the ''Il Progresso Italo-Americano'' at the age of 21. He worked for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

's psychological warfare unit in 1950. Pope acquired the ''New York Enquirer'' in 1952 for $75,000. The ''Enquirer'' purchase was supposedly made, in part, with a loan from Costello. In 1954, Pope revamped the format from a broadsheet to a tabloid, and renamed it ''

''. Pope worked tirelessly throughout the 1950s and 1960s to increase the circulation of the ''Enquirer''. In the late 50s and through to 1967, it was known for its gory and unsettling headlines and stories such as "I Cut Out Her Heart and Stomped On It" (Sept. 8, 1963, the true story of the April 1963 mutilation murder of former Olympic Skier

Sonja McCaskie Sonja McCaskie (19 February 1939 – 5 April 1963) was a British alpine skier who participated in the 1960 Winter Olympics. McCaskie lived in Reno, Nevada, with her son and worked at a nearby ski resort as an instructor prior to her death in ...

) & "Mom Boiled Her Baby And Ate Her" (1962). At this time the paper was sold on newsstands and in drugstores only — as the gory headlines would not have been allowed in family supermarkets, etc. Pope stated he got the idea for the format and these gory stories from seeing people congregate around auto accidents. After 1967, Pope tempered the use of gory headlines so the tabloid could be sold in more family-friendly environments such as at supermarket check-out lines, which Henry Dormann paved the way for by visiting with supermarket executives. This new sales strategy proved to be a huge boon for sales; single-copy sales of some issues (e.g. Elvis in his coffin) peaked above six million in the 1970s. Pope moved the ''Enquirer'' from New York to

Lantana, Florida Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is north from Fort Lauderdale and north of Miami. This town is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. Its population was 11,504 at the 2020 United States censu ...

, in 1971. By the time of Pope's death, his GP Group, in addition to ''The National Enquirer'', included ''

Weekly World News The ''Weekly World News'' is a tabloid formerly published in a newspaper format reporting mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007. The paper was renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatur ...

'' and a magazine distributor, Distribution Services Inc. It was sold in 1989 by his heirs to the company that would become

American Media There are several types of mass media in the United States: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and websites. The U.S. also has a strong music industry. New York City, Manhattan in particular, and to a lesser extent Los Ange ...

. From 1971 to 1988 during the holiday season, Pope put up a large decorated

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

, which towered over the corporate headquarters of the ''National Enquirer'' in Lantana and at times was considered the largest such tree in the world. This tradition was discontinued after Pope died in 1988.

Personal life

Pope married his first wife, Patricia McManus, in 1951. After the birth of their son, Generoso Pope III, she fell into a deep postpartum depression and was ultimately diagnosed as schizophrenic. In 1961, Pope divorced McManus and married Edith Moore, a former model; when McManus heard the news, she committed suicide. Pope and Moore had a daughter, Gina, and divorced in 1965. That same year, he married his third wife, Lois Berrodin, and had two children, Paul (b. 1967) and Lorraine (b. 1972); he also adopted Lois' two daughters, Michele and Maria. Rumors of

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

connections dogged him his whole life. Pope lived in a self-designed beachfront home in

Manalapan, Florida Manalapan is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was 419 at the 2020 United States census. History United States President Benjamin Harrison granted Ge ...

Death

Pope suffered a heart attack at the age of 61 at his Manalapan mansion and died en route to the hospital — in an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

that he had donated to the town. He was interred at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in

Royal Palm Beach, Florida Royal Palm Beach is a village in southeast Florida, located within Palm Beach County. Despite its name, the village is located approximately fifteen miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area. The population w ...

. His widow Lois remains a well-known

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, specializing in

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

humanitarian relief Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian a ...

, and the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

References

External links

Generoso Pope, Jr.
at Find A Grave
An interview with Paul Pope (Generoso's son)
From Il Progresso to the Enquirer: the story of the Pope family". Tiziano Thomas Dossena, L'IDEA N.3, Vol.II, 2000, NY

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Generoso Jr. 1927 births 1988 deaths MIT School of Engineering alumni American mass media owners American newspaper publishers (people) American people of Italian descent Horace Mann School alumni People from Lantana, Florida National Enquirer people