Ralph "Del" Delahaye Paine Jr. (March 31, 1906 – January 12, 1991) was an American editor and publisher.
Born in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Paine was the son of author and journalist Ralph Delahaye Paine.
Paine had two younger twin brothers, Stuart Douglas Paine, who became an Antarctic explorer, and Philbrook Ten Eyck Paine, born 1910. Paine attended
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, where he was a member of
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
, and graduated in 1929.
After college, Paine was a Wall Street
securities
A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine in 1933. Following complaints about the content of ''Time'' from businesses during the Great Depression, he was offered the choice between a firing and a promotion provided a suitable replacement could be found. Paine lamented "I'm about to be fired unless I can find someone who can satisfy ''Times advertisers without catering to them." Through Yale law professor
William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often ci ...
, he found that replacement, Eliot Janeway.
In 1938, he became personal assistant to publisher Henry Luce, the co-founder of ''Time''. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he was in charge of ''
The March of Time
''The March of Time'' is an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Inc. and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was based on a radio news series broadcast from 1931 to 1945. The "voice" of both series was Westbrook Van Voorhis. ...
'' newsreel series and European operations of
Time, Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
.
Paine served as managing editor of '' Fortune'' from 1941 to 1953 and, following the departure of Charles Douglas Jackson, publisher from 1953 to 1967. During his tenure, the magazine created its famous Fortune 500 list. Paine clashed with Luce and threatened to resign over Luce's desire to make ''Fortune'' more overtly pro-business and create an advisory board for the magazine composed of prominent businessmen. Paine also served as publisher of ''
Architectural Forum
''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
'' from 1954 to 1963 and '' House and Home'' from 1962 to 1963.
In 1947, Paine married Nancy White, at the time associate fashion editor of ''
Good Housekeeping
''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...
'' and later editor of '' Harper's Bazaar''. It was the second marriage for both of them and it later ended in divorce.
At the time of his death, Paine was president and treasurer of the
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...