Louis Silberkleit
Quick Facts
Biography
Louis Horace Silberkleit (17 November 1900 – 21 February 1986) was an American founder (along with Maurice Coyne and John L. Goldwater) of M. L. J. Magazines (later known as Archie Comics), and served as its publisher for many years.
Biography
Louis H. Silberkleit graduated from New York Law School in 1934.
According to his son Michael, Silberkleit began his career in publishing when he founded Columbia Publications, a publisher of magazines featuring science fiction, westerns and detective stories by writers such as Isaac Asimov and Louis L'Amour.
In 1941, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater founded M. L. J. Magazines. The name was derived from the initials of the first names of Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater.
M. L. J. Magazines produced the first Archie Comics in the Winter of 1942, described by the New York Times as "a series of comic books detailing the antics of Archie and his teen-age friends."
Personal life
On May 16, 1926 Louis Silberkleit married Lillian Meisel (20 April 1903 – 23 April 1970), a Lithuanian of Jewish ancestry who came to America in 1914. On April 27, 1932 their only son, Michael Ivan Silberkleit, was born in New York City.
On April 23, 1970 Lillian Silberkleit died in New York City at the age of sixty-seven.
In 1972 he married his second wife, Nicole Bernheim.
Death
Louis H. Silberkleit died on Friday February 21, 1986 at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He was survived by his second wife Nicole Bernheim and his son Michael I. Silberkleit (from his first marriage).