George T. Delacorte Jr. (20 June 1894 – 4 May 1991) was an American magazine publisher, born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He founded the

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

in 1921. His goal was to entertain readers who were not satisfied with the genteel publications available at the time. The company was one of the largest publishers of books, magazines, and comics during its heyday. His most successful innovation was the puzzle magazine. Delacorte clock central park zoo new york

Delacorte clock central park zoo new york

Biography

Delacorte, born George Tonkonogy, was the son of George Tonkonogy, Sr. and Sadie König, both Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He grew up in Brooklyn with his siblings; Abraham, Mamie, Henrietta, Archibald, Elizabeth, Eugene, and Gertrude. An alumnus of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(1913), Delacorte donated money to the university which established the Delacorte Professorship in the Humanities and helped found the George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism and the creation of the Delacorte Professorship in Magazine Journalism in 1984. The university recognized him with an honorary doctorate in 1982. In 1962, he donated money to establish the

Delacorte Theater The Delacorte Theater is a 1,800-seat open-air theater in Central Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is home to the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park productions. Over five million people have attended more than 15 ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. He also donated money for the

Delacorte Clock The Delacorte Clock, or George Delacorte Musical Clock, is a clock and art installation outside the Central Park Zoo in Central Park, Manhattan, New York. The clock is named after George T. Delacorte Jr., and was dedicated in 1965. The clock is ...

in the park, an Alice in Wonderland sculpture to the north of Conservatory Water with among others the

Mad Hatter The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Ca ...

(whose face is supposedly modeled on that of Delacorte) in honor of his wife, sculptures of The Tempest and

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

, and a fountain in City Hall Plaza. He died in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 1991 at the age of 96, survived by his second wife

Valerie Delacorte Valéria Hidvéghy or Valerie Pascal Delacorte (14 June 1914 – 14 July 2011) was a Hungarian actress. Life Delacorte was born in Budapest and broke through the iron curtain to marry the film producer Gabriel Pascal. She is best known today ...

(whose second husband was the Hungarian producer

Gabriel Pascal Gabriel Pascal (born Gábor Lehel; 4 June 1894 – 6 July 1954) was a Hungarian film producer and director whose best-known films were made in the United Kingdom. Pascal was the first film producer to successfully bring the plays of Georg ...

), two sons, three daughters, 18 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. His siblings included Eugene Tonkonogy. He is memorialized by several funds in The

New York Community Trust The New York Community Trust is the community foundation for New York City, with divisions in Westchester and Long Island. It is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the United States and one of the largest funders of New York C ...

, which offers a biographical brochure.George T Delacorte
New York Community Trust

References

External links

George T. Delacorte Center

* ttps://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4078691 Finding aid to George T. Delacorte letters at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library. American book publishers (people) American magazine publishers (people) Comic book publishers (people) American magazine founders 1991 deaths 1894 births 20th-century American philanthropists Columbia College (New York) alumni {{Publish-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links