Steve Forbes

Background

Ethnicity: Steve Forbes has Scottish, English, and small amounts of Dutch and French ancestry.

Steve Forbes was born as Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr., on July 18, 1947, in Morristown, New Jersey, the United States. He is the son of longtime Forbes magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandson of a Scottish immigrant named Bertie Charles Forbes, who founded the magazine in 1917. His mother's name is Roberta Remsen (née Laidlaw).

Steve grew up in Far Hills, New Jersey alongside his siblings, Robert Laidlaw, Christopher Charles, Timothy Carter, and Moira Hamilton. Malcolm Sr. and Roberta later divorced. As Steve explained in Forbes, his parents, "still loved each other, but could no longer live together."

Steve changed his original name Malcolm S. Forbes Jr. to Steve Forbes after the death of his father in 1996.

Education

Steve Forbes went to Far Hills Country Day School, an elite institution. He graduated from Brooks School in 1966 after which he went to Princeton. Forbes graduated from Princeton University in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history.

Career

While he studied at Princeton, Forbes and two other undergraduates founded Business Today. The magazine for and by undergraduates survives to this day, which is now the biggest student-run magazine in the world. He then went to work as a researcher for Forbes magazine, which was headed by his father, Malcolm S. Forbes, Sr.

In 1973 he began writing a column for the magazine, and in 1980 he became the president and chief operating officer of Forbes, Inc. After the death of his father in 1990, Forbes became the chief executive officer of the company as well as editor-in-chief of the magazine, and under his leadership, the company expanded its publishing ventures.

In 1985 he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the Board for International Broadcasting, which oversaw Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, and he was reappointed to the position by President George H.W. Bush. In 1993, with Jack Kemp, a former congressman and fellow proponent of free-market economics, he founded Empower America, a group advocating so-called supply-side policies, including low taxes and deregulation, as the best means of stimulating growth.

He ran for president twice in 1996 and 2000. To finance his campaign he sold some of the voting shares from Forbes Inc. Forbes was far behind the opposing candidates and according to experts, his campaigning style was a major reason for his defeat. He raised 86,000,000 dollars in his campaign contributions out of which included his own 37,000,000 dollars. Forbes decided to drop out of the 2000 primary season and returned to managing his magazine and company.

The company launched various new businesses and publications including Forbes Life, Forbes Asia along Forbes licensee editions that are published in China, Africa, Bulgaria, India, Croatia, Israel, Indonesia, Latvia, Middle East, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Turkey. Forbes Media also publishes several investment newsletters. Forbes Investors Advisory Institute is also a division of the company.

Steve Forbes also contributes editorials for every issue himself with a heading of Fact and Comment. As a writer, he has won the Crystal Owl Award four times. He has authored three books as well namely The New Birth of Freedom: Vision for America, Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS, Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets are Moral and Big Government Isn’t and Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today….and the Lessons You Can Learn.

Achievements

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  The head of Forbes Inc. since 1990, Steve has launched several new ventures, including Forbes dot com and successful supplements to-and foreign editions of-the company's flagship publication, Forbes magazine. He also chairs the company's subsidiary, American Heritage, and is editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine.
  
  The company’s flagship publication, Forbes, is the nation’s leading business magazine, with a circulation of more than 900,000. Forbes combined with Forbes Asia, Forbes Europe, and the company’s licensee editions together reach a worldwide audience of more than 5 million readers. Forbes dot com has become one of the world’s most influential websites, with more than 60 million unique visitors a month.
  
  In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in economics from Stevenson University.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral and Big Government Isn't

    (From Steve Forbes, the iconic editor in chief of Forbes M...)

    2012
  • Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code and Reforming The Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity

    (Conservative icon Steve Forbes returns with his most powe...)

    2015
  • Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy - and What We Can Do About It

    (Why a return to sound money is our only hope for a true r...)

    2014
  • Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS

    (File your taxes on a postcard? Impossible! Guess again, s...)

    2005
  • The New Birth of Freedom: Vision for America

    (America today has the potential for the greatest economic...)

    1999

Religion

Steve Forbes is a member of The Episcopal Church.

Politics

Forbes is a Republican. In both 1996 and 2000, Forbes campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Key to his platform were a flat tax, medical savings accounts, a new Social Security system for working Americans, parental choice of schools for their children, term limits, and a strong national defense. Forbes continues to energetically promote this agenda.

He also endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 Presidential election and joined Rudy Giuliani's campaign for the 2008 Presidential election. Also during the 2008 Presidential election, Forbes served as John McCain's Economic Adviser on Taxes, Energy, and the Budget.

Views

Long active in public affairs, Forbes served as a chairman of the bipartisan Board of International Broadcasting, which oversaw Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, from 1985 to 1993. He is a past chairman of the Board of Directors for Empower America and was Honorary Chairman of Americans for Hope, Growth, and Opportunity. He also serves as a Trustee of Princeton University (his alma mater) and on numerous other boards.

He also advocated reliance on individual retirement accounts as a substitute for Social Security and the use of medical savings accounts in place of traditional employee health benefits. He supported conservative positions on a number of other issues, including term limits for members of Congress, school vouchers, and an end to affirmative-action policies. He did not, however, take a firm stance against abortion.

Quotations: "There is something fundamentally unfair about a government that takes away so much of people's money, power, and personal control while telling them that life will be better as a result."

"A promise made should be a promise kept."

"What you do as the president has consequences."

"If a man breaks a pledge, the public ought to know it."

"You don't change minds in Washington with sweet reason. You do it to the white light of the public opinion."

Membership

Forbes is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi and Tau Kappa Epsilon.

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  Alpha Kappa Psi

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  Tau Kappa Epsilon

Personality

Steve Forbes is an avid reader and spends most of his free time with a book.

Interests

• Politicians

  Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain

• Writers

  The Way the World Works by Jude Wanniski, Wealth and Poverty” by George Gilder, Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales From the World of Wall Street by John Brooks, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, Moonshot!: Game-Changing Strategies to Build Billion-Dollar Businesses by John Sculley, The Soft Edge: Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success by Rich Karlgaard, The Forgotten Depression - 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself by James Grant

• Sport & Clubs

  Baseball, bicycling

• Athletes

  Derek Jeter

Connections

Steve Forbes has been married to Sabina Beekman since June 19, 1971. They have five children.

Father:

Malcolm Forbes

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes was one of the foremost publishers and business moguls in the United States. From 1957 until his death in 1990, he was publisher, editor-in-chief, and sole stockholder of the magazine his father founded.

Mother:

Roberta Remsen (Laidlaw) Forbes

Spouse:

Sabina Beekman

Brother:

Robert Laidlaw Forbes

Brother:

Christopher Charles Forbes

Brother:

Timothy Carter Forbes

Sister:

Moira Hamilton Forbes

Daughter:

Moira Forbes

As the Executive Vice President of Forbes Media, Moira Forbes is responsible for driving new business initiatives across the company’s diverse media platforms, and branding Forbes events worldwide. She is also the President and Publisher of ForbesWomen, a multi-media platform dedicated to successful women in business and leadership.

Daughter:

Sabina Forbes

Daughter:

Roberta Forbes

Daughter:

Elizabeth Forbes

Daughter:

Catherine Forbes

Friend:

Donald Trump

Acquaintance:

Eva Longoria

Acquaintance:

Warren Buffett

References

• Steve Forbes on Twitter