Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard writes about magazine founder B.C. Forbes.
Karlgaard writes, “He was 37 years old but already a seasoned business journalist. At 14 he left school to become a printer’s devil, setting type for a local newspaper in Scotland. By 16 he was a reporter in Aberdeen, and by 21 he had moved to Johannesburg, South Africa and eventually landed a job writing for the Rand Daily Mail. At 24 B.C. sailed to New York and established himself as a business and financial scribe for Hearst newspapers, working his way up to become business and financial editor of the New York American. His articles were syndicated in newspapers around the country.
“B.C. began FORBES in 1917 to celebrate free enterprise and the human spirit that made the prosperous life possible. Half a world away Vladimir Lenin started the Soviet Union to quash enterprise and empty the human spirit into a formaldehyde jar. Lenin’s horrible experiment died in 1989, but FORBES keeps going.
“B.C. Forbes was born in Scotland. He remained a Scottish highlander to his kilts, as have his sons and grandsons, the eldest of whom, Steve, is editor-in-chief of the magazine today. But B.C. was also thoroughly American, as only an immigrant can be. He was dazzled by the opportunity the U.S. offered immigrants and was enthralled by other Scots who’d made good in America, the most famous being Andrew Carnegie.”
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