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He Was the Longtime Owner, Publisher and Editor of the Bible of Show Business: Variety’s Syd Silverman Dead at 85

Aug 29, 2017  •  Post A Comment

Syd Silverman, the longtime owner and publisher of the trade publications Variety and Daily Variety, has died. The New York Post reports that Silverman died Sunday at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 85.

“Silverman was the grandson of the storied showbiz newspapers’ founder, Sime Silverman, and served as publisher of the original New York-based Variety, a weekly, and its Hollywood-based spinoff, Daily Variety, from 1957 to 1987, when he sold the company to Cahners Publishing,” The Post reports.

Syd Silverman was also editor of the weekly publication from 1973 until the magazine was sold.

“Raised in Harrison, NY, and a longtime resident of White Plains, NY, Silverman was the only child of Sidne Silverman, the second publisher of Variety, and Marie Saxon Silverman, a vaudevillian and musical comedy star,” The Post notes. “By the time he was 18, both of his parents had died, leaving him as the sole heir to the two publications.”

The publications were originally focused on vaudeville, legitimate theater and films, and only later added coverage of radio and television. Their scope “expanded under his leadership to embrace coverage of cable and pay-TV, independent film pre-sales, financial interest/syndication rules for TV programs, satellite TV, home video and digital media,” The Post adds.

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