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Note: From the Washington Post, Oct. 2, 2002 (entered here in part) from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30335-2002Oct1?language=printer
Walter H. Annenberg, 94, the billionaire publisher, philanthropist, art collector and loyal friend of Richard M. Nixon who served as ambassador to Britain during the Nixon presidency, died of pneumonia yesterday at his home in Wynnewood, Pa.
As a publisher, Annenberg had presided over a media empire that included the weekly magazine TV Guide; the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News newspapers; Seventeen magazine; broadcast properties in Pennsylvania, New York, California and Connecticut; and the Daily Racing Form, which was essential reading for all serious horseplayers in the United States.
As a connoisseur of art, Annenberg had world-class taste and a discriminating eye. His collection was not large, but it was reputed to be among the finest on Earth. It included 50 paintings by such masters as van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Renoir, Bonnard, Monet, Degas and Cezanne. Valued at more than $1 billion, the collection now becomes Annenberg's bequest to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
From 1969 to 1974, Annenberg was Nixon's ambassador to Britain. He called this experience "the greatest honor of my life," and for years afterward, friends and associates continued to address him as "Ambassador." On his arrival in London, he spent $1 million of his own money to redecorate and refurbish Winfield House, the ambassador's official residence, and it cost him $250,000 a year to run the embassy for the 5 1/2 years he served in London. He said it was worth it.
Walter Hubert Annenberg was born in Milwaukee, the only son and the sixth of nine children of Moses and Sadie Annenberg. He had a withered right ear at birth, which impaired his hearing. A quarter-century later, this kept him from military service in World War II. From Annenberg's childhood through early manhood, his father was the dominant figure in his life. Even after Moses Annenberg died in 1942, he continued to have a profound influence on his son.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Annenberg's survivors include two stepdaughters, two sisters, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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