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Maxwell, Robert (1923–1991)

ROBERT MAXWELL was born Jan Ludvik Hoch in a small town on the Czechoslovakian border, to peasant parents who became victims of Adolf Hitler's holocaust during World War II. The fact that Maxwell rose from having nothing to heading up an international financial empire that encompassed publishing interests, television and cable stations, recording companies, and language schools affected most decisions he made throughout his life. Maxwell established a reputation as a user and abuser of people who frequently manipulated his own truths.

Publisher Extraordinaire

Many of Maxwell's critics were afraid to criticize him because he was known for bringing libel suits against those whom he thought defamed him. By all accounts, Maxwell relished being called “publisher extraordinaire” and delighted in his international acclaim. On one occasion, Maxwell approved a magazine layout that showed him with a halo superimposed on an existing photo-portrait. While Maxwell may have been an extraordinary publisher and financier, he was far from being an angel.

In 1951, Maxwell purchased Pergamon Press, which published textbooks and scientific journals, for £13,000. In 1969, questions arose over a failed attempt to sell Pergamon to Leasco, an American finance group, leading to a major investigation of both Maxwell and Pergamon. Investigators, who included the well-known accounting firm Price-Waterhouse, discovered that as head of Pergamon, Maxwell had manipulated financial records to hide the fact that most of Pergamon's profits were dependent on transactions with private companies owned by the Maxwell family. Price-Waterhouse reported that Pergamon's 1968 profits of £2.1 million had been over-reported by £1.6 million. In 1973, a no-holds-barred report issued by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) made it clear that “notwithstanding Mr. Maxwell's acknowledged abilities and energy, he is not in our opinion a person who can be relied on to exercise proper stewardship of a publicly quoted company.” Maxwell subsequently lost control of Pergamon but repurchased it in 1974 and continued to head the company until 1991 when he sold both Pergamon and Maxwell Directories for £440 million to Elsevier, a transnational publisher.

Prime Minister Maxwell

As part of his campaign to become prime minister of Great Britain, Maxwell ran for a Buckinghamshire seat in the House of Commons on the Labor Party ticket in 1964. For the next six years, Maxwell stirred up a number of controversies that led to various charges of dishonesty and deceit. For instance, in 1966, Maxwell surprisingly agreed to serve as chair of the House of Commons Catering Committee to determine why the commons kitchen had an overdraft of £53,000. Maxwell immediately fired the staff, reduced the quality of food, and sold off the entire contents of the House of Commons wine cellar. Afterwards, Maxwell claimed that he had earned a profit of £20,000 for the commons kitchen. Other committee members disagreed, claiming that Maxwell had manipulated records to hide the fact that he had actually increased the deficit to £57,000 within his four years at the helm. After being censured by the English High Court for his part in the Pergamon scandal, Maxwell decided not to run for re-election and gave up his dream of becoming prime minister.

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