Michael Silberkleit, 1932-2008

Archie Comic Publications has disseminated a press release announcing the passing of their chairman and co-publisher, Michael Silberkleit, on August 5th. He died in New York City from complications arising from cancer. He was 76 years old.

Silberkleit was the son of Archie co-founder Louis Silberkleit and began working at the company at 16 years old. He was born in New York City and attended the Fieldsteon School and Albright College. He majored in history. The press release claims he studied law at some point, but doesn't indicate where it would have been while he was working at Archie.

Silberkleit spent much of his time at Archie as the primary business partner of Richard Goldwater, son of the other co-founder, John Goldwater. Both came up through the company's various department, starting out as errand boys and gofers.

In perhaps the most dramatic period in Archie's history, the pair took the company public and then private again. The early 1970s decision to take Archie public was according to Silberkleit designed to fund an effort to offer Archie Restaurant franchises during a period in which American business was fascinated by the franchising model. Silberkleit served as treasurer and as a director during the public phase of the company's history. "Several outside people felt that Archie Enterprises was ripe for a hostile takeover," Silberkleit told interviewer Rik Offenberger. "They started buying stock on the open market, attempting to gain control. Tender offers were made. Richard and I decided to buy back all of the stock. We made a tender offer higher than what was made and the shareholders voted to accept ours. We then bought back all of the stock of Archie held by the public and took the company private."

Goldwater passed away in Fall 2007.

Other accomplishments credited to the lengthy Silberkleit era at the company include the licensing of the characters to Spire Christian Comics, managing new characters such as Josie and the Pussycats, licensing its superhero characters to DC in the early 1990s and then ending that agreement when sales did not meet the company's expectations, the Archie Meets the Punisher project, TV shows for the Archie characters both cartoon and live-action, a film for the Josie property, licensed comics offering such as the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book and a title featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a generally conservative take on maintaining the Archie characters' iconic, all-American status.

Archie's release notes that Silberkleit also served as chairman of the Comics Association of America, a volunteer auxiliary policeman for the Scarsdale Police force and enjoyed restoring vintage sports cars.

Michael Silberkleit is surived by his wife, three daughters, a son and two grandchildren. A memorial is planned for Sunday; donations can be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
 
posted 8:15 am PST | Permalink
 

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