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Biography of Ian Robert MaxwellName: Ian Robert MaxwellBirth Date: June 10, 1923 Death Date: November 11, 1991 Place of Birth: Solotvino, Czechoslovakia Nationality: Czech Gender: Male Occupations: publisher Ian Robert Maxwell A refugee from eastern Czechoslovakia, Ian Robert Maxwell (Ludvik Hoch; 1923-1991) eventually became one of the richest men in Great Britain and the head of a powerful publishing empire.Robert Maxwell promised his wife Betty, "I shall win an MC. I shall recreate a family. I shall make my fortune. I shall be Prime Minister of England. And I shall make you happy until the end of my days." Joe Haines, in his book Maxwell (1988), suggests that only one of those promises--prime minister--remained unfilled in the early 1990s. That the promises could have been made at all in December of 1944 by a penniless, recently created officer of the British Army who was a refugee from the Carpathian mountains says a great deal about the character and career of Robert Maxwell.Maxwell was born on June 10, 1923, in the small village of Solotvino in the Carpathian mountains of what was then …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…bought the zesty New York City tabloid the Daily News. Meanwhile he launched the European, an English-language weekly designed to cover all of Europe, despite a mounting debt in his media corporation.Robert Maxwell was also devoted to his family. He and his French-born wife Elisabeth had seven children, most of whom worked for his companies. He expected his children to make their own way without benefit of inheritance. On November 11, 1991, Maxwell died at sea off the Canary Islands, falling overboard from his yacht, Lady Ghislaine. He was buried on the Mount of Olives in Israel. Further Reading The best work on Robert Maxwell is Maxwell (1988) by Joseph Haines; and Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Giant (2003). The only significant additional information comes from lengthy articles in Economist (November 1986); Forbes (October 1987); New York Times Magazine (May 1, 1988) and Business Week (July 29, 1991). |