Life & Living Well

Human beings are nothing if not multi-faceted. Here you have on the one hand Walter Annenberg, a very sweet man by all accounts, a billionaire publisher, a tremendous philanthropist, a diplomat and a great enthusiast when it came to enjoying his riches in the form of a lavish lifestyle. He is remembered among those in the know about Rancho Mirage real estate “Sunnylands”, his winter estate in Rancho Mirage, where he entertained the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Prince Charles. The Reagans often weekended with the Annenbergs. You would think, therefore, that Annenberg was above personal pettiness: but no. He had enemies too, and he was not a forgiving enemy, For instance, Zsa Zsa Gabor angered him and from then on none of his publications, which included a slate of influential publications, was allowed to mention her name. Her image was airbrushed out of any group photos that included her. And once when politician Milton Shapp was taking a stand on a railroad merger that ran counter to Annenberg’s shareholding interests, Annenberg had a reporter ask Shapp if he had ever been in a mental institution. Shapp replied that he had never been. The next day one of Annenberg’s newspapers had the headline “Shapp Denies Ever Having Been in a Mental Home”. In summary, Annenberg was not above using his publications to further his own ends. By the way, I also learned the other day that Annenberg founded and made a fortune out of Seventeen magazine. He will be remembered for being an extremely talented publisher, a philanthropist and a diplomat.

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