NEWS
Former Daily Racing Form Publisher Annenberg dies
Posted: Tuesday, October 01, 2002
Walter H. Annenberg, former owner and publisher of Daily Racing Form among many other publications, died from complications of pneumonia at his suburban Philadelphia home. He was 94.
Annenberg inherited the publishing empire—which included the Form, the Morning Telegraph (another daily racing publication), and the Philadelphia Inquirer—from his father, Moses Annenberg, following the patriarch's in 1942.
Upon Moses Annenberg's death in 1942, Walter Annenberg and his two sisters assumed control of the periodicals. Annenberg dedicated his work to reflecting "honor on my father's memory."
Shortly after his father's death, Annenberg began building an empire of his own. He bought the Philadelphia Daily News, founded Seventeen magazine, and established TV Guide. Eventually, his Triangle Publications acquired six radio and six television stations in major markets throughout the country.
Outside the publishing world, Annenberg played host to presidents at his California estate, collected and donated rare art, endowed two journalism schools, and served as the American ambassador to England.
Annenberg's involvement in racing publications began when his father bought into a Chicago tip-sheet before moving East to purchase the Inquirer. Moses then bought Daily Racing Form and leased telegraph wires from AT&T to move racing information nationwide.
His second wife, the former Leonore Rosenstiel, and a daughter from his first marriage, Wallis, survive Annenberg. His son, Roger, died in 1962. The family will hold a private memorial service and then a public service.
