Henry R. Luce
Co-founder

Henry R. Luce, co-founder of TIME magazine, was described in 1961 by Current Biography as "the giant of twentieth-century American journalism." He served as editor-in-chief of all TIME Inc. publications until 1964, when he resigned and became editorial chairman of TIME Inc.

Luce was born on April 3, 1898 in Tengchow, China, the son of an American missionary. At 10, he was sent to a British boarding school at Chefoo on the China coast and at 14, he traveled to Europe alone. Luce first came to the U.S. when he was 15 to attend the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut.

While a student at Hotchkiss, Luce took a leading role in the school's publications. A scholarship student, Luce split his Time between waiting tables after school and editing for the Hotchkiss Literary Monthly, holding the position of editor-in-chief. He was also an assistant managing editor of the weekly school newspaper, working with the editor-in-chief Briton Hadden, his future TIME co-founder and friend. Luce recalled his relationship with Hadden: "Somehow, despite the greatest differences in temperaments and even in interests, somehow we had to work together. We were an organization. At the center of our lives - our job, our function - at that point everything we had belonged to each other."

The camaraderie Luce felt with Hadden continued to develop as the two enrolled together as members of the class of 1920 at Yale University. With Hadden as chairman, Luce served as editor of the Yale Daily News. Luce and Hadden entered Yale's Reserve Officers Training Corps and both rose to the rank of second lieutenant. Luce often spoke of the countless nights he spent at Camp Jackson in South Carolina with Hadden discussing journalism and the need for a new kind of newspaper or magazine to help educate a misinformed populace. Luce was voted "most brilliant" of his class at Yale and, after graduation, parted ways with Hadden to study history at Oxford University for a year.

Luce returned to the U.S. and accepted a job as a cub reporter at the Chicago Daily News. He joined Hadden in Baltimore in December 1921 where they worked side by side as reporters for The Baltimore News. Nightly discussions of the concept of a newsmagazine led the two, both age 23, to quit their jobs in 1922. Having raised $86,000 of a $100,000 goal, the first issue of TIME was issued on March 3, 1923. Hadden became editor and Luce business manager. With regards to this arrangement, Luce said, "When the Time came to decide who was editor, Brit Hadden just had to be it, so I took the business side." Luce and Hadden annually alternated year-to-year the titles of president and secretary-treasurer.

Upon Hadden's sudden death in 1929, Luce assumed the role of editor of TIME magazine. As editor, Luce was known as interrogative and meticulous, continuously probing his writers with daunting yet always relevant questions. He demonstrated a uniquely insatiable curiosity and passion to inform.

In February 1930, Luce launched the next Time Inc. publication, Fortune. In 1936, he founded Life magazine and in 1954, Sports Illustrated, which broke circulation records set by Life and boasted an initial print order of 550,000. It was these magazine giants, as well as all other publishing ventures of the Time Inc. Enterprise, that Henry Luce resided over as editor-in-chief until 1964.

Luce supported many organizations and programs, such as the Save the Children Federation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and United Service to China, Inc. He was the recipient of 19 honorary degrees as well as many awards for his journalistic innovations, business success, democratic principles and dedication to the American dream.

Luce had two children, Peter Paul and Henry Luce III with his first wife, Lila, before marrying Claire Boothe Brokaw in 1935. Henry Luce died in March of 1967 and was remembered by Life magazine as "the most successful editor of his TIME, a great popularizer of ideas, a man who revolutionized modern journalism."