Robert ‘Bob’ Guccione, the founder and publisher of Penthouse, and master of erotica, died of cancer on October 20, 2010 at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano, Texas. He was 79.
Penthouse began publication in 1965 in England in the U.S. in 1969, competing head-to-head against Hugh Hefner and Playboy with sensationalistic editorial content. Guccione photographed most of the models for the early issues, using a diffused, soft focus that became one of the trademarks of the magazine’s pictorials. He was the first to bring full frontal nudity.
The magazine published salacious details and photographs that toppled the ministry of Jimmy Swaggart and unseated Miss America Vanessa Williams in the 1980’s.
He is credited with giving Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour her first job as a fashion editor for his magazine Viva.
With the advent of online porn in the 1990’s, the magazine’s circulation numbers began to suffer. In 2003 General Media, the publishing company for Penthouse, declared bankruptcy and Guccione resigned.
Guccione was listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people, with a net worth of $400 million in 1982. In an April 2002 New York Times article, Bob revealed that Penthouse grossed nearly $4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with a net income of almost $500 million.
The entrepreneur was also a recognized artist and world-renowned collector of fine art. The Guiccione art collection, appraised at $59 million, sold at Sotheby’s in 2002 for less than half that in the wake of 911 and the depressed art market.
Bob eventually lost his entire empire and his financial holdings due to a series of business failures.
Guccione is survived by his fourth wife April Dawn Warren Guccione, and five children from his first two marriages: Tonina, Bob Jr., Tony, Nick and Nina.
Check out an interesting vintage GMA interview below: