March 23, 2007
Robert E.
Petersen, Founder of Hot Rod, Motor Trend Magazines and
Benefactor of
the Petersen Automotive Museum Passes On at 80
Robert E.
Petersen, an entrepreneur who single-handedly created the
largest
special-interest publishing company in America, was
instrumental
in the evolution
of the hot-rodding culture, and who, with his wife
Margie, realized
his dream of establishing an educational museum to pay
tribute to the
automobile, died on Friday, March 23, at St. John’s
Hospital in
Santa Monica, Calif. after a short but valiant battle with
neuroendocrine
cancer. He was 80.
“Mr. Petersen
helped create and feed the American obsession with the
automobile,
delivering gasoline-powered dreams to the mailboxes of
millions,” said
Dick Messer, Director of the Petersen Automotive
Museum in Los
Angeles. “He understood the thrill that an average
person could get
from seeing and reading about horsepower as an art
form.”
A native of
Southern California, Mr. Petersen’s mother passed away
when he was 10,
leaving him with his Danish-immigrant father, who worked
as a truck and
equipment mechanic. As a young man he picked up his
father’s skills,
learning to weld, de-coke engines, and hone his
fascination with
cars.
After graduating
from Barstow High School in the mid-1940s, he moved to
Los Angeles,
working at MGM studios as a messenger boy. Following service
in the Army Air
Corps toward the end of Word War II, Mr. Petersen, now an
independent
publicist immersed in the burgeoning customized auto culture
of California,
was instrumental in creating the first hot-rod show at the
Los Angeles
Armory. To help establish the event, in January 1948 he
launched Hot Rod
Magazine, and hawked the magazine at local speedways for
25 cents a copy.
Motor Trend, a more upscale publication for production
car enthusiasts,
and dozens of other titles aimed at specialty automotive
segments soon
followed.
Mr. Petersen
spent decades as Chairman of the Board of Petersen
Publishing
Company, which
was at one time America’s leading publisher of
special-interest
consumer magazines and books before its sale to private
investors in
August 1996. Among its other diverse successful titles are
Teen, Sport, Rod
& Custom, and Guns & Ammo. He also headed a wide variety
of other
businesses including ammunition manufacturing, real estate
development and
aviation services that each reflected another passion he
shared.
Firmly
established as an American success story, Mr. Petersen had
one
lasting vision:
an educational museum to pay tribute to the automobile. On
June 11, 1994,
the lifelong dream of Robert E. Petersen was fulfilled with
the opening of a
300,000-square-foot automotive museum named in his honor,
made possible by
his $30 million endowment.
Today the
Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles stands as the
nation’s
premiere automotive museum, serving thousands of visitors
each year. Its
mission remains to educate and excite generations of auto
enthusiasts with
the fascinating stories, vehicles and people that have
influenced the
American love affair with the automobile – a mission
that has been a
resounding success thanks to the generosity of its main
benefactor.
In addition to
his noted auto collection, Mr. Petersen also developed a
keen interest in
sport shooting. He served as Shooting Sports Commissioner
for the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympic Games, where he was responsible for
building that
venue from an old dairy farm within six months.
Mr. Petersen
served as president and chairman of the board of the
Boys’ and Girls’
Club of Hollywood, and was a member of the
National Board
of Directors for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of
America. He was
active in support of numerous children’s charities
and also served
as a member for the Los Angeles City Library Commission.
Both he and his
wife have been major contributors to the Music Center of
Los Angeles and
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Additionally, he was
a founding
member of the Thalians social society, which raises money
for
the Mental
Health Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. His ongoing
contributions to
the community earned him numerous special citations from
the Los Angeles
County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Council.
Mr. Petersen was
to be honored with both the ‘Automotive Icon’
and ‘Visionary’
awards at the Petersen museum’s annual
gala on May 10.
The ceremony will now be held as a tribute to Mr. Petersen
and his
contributions to the institution and community.
“What made him
so special was that he gave every ounce of his energy
and abilities to
his dreams. He was a quiet man who truly became an
American icon,”
the Petersen museum’s Messer said. “He
made his living
doing things he loved and he found success at every turn.
The way he lived
his life, always looking for ways to give back in return
for the success
he enjoyed, made you proud to count him as a friend. The
museum is now
his legacy.”
He is survived
by his wife, Margie. In lieu of flowers, the family asks
donations be
made to the Petersen Automotive Museum or the charity of the
person’s choice
in his honor. Funeral mass will be held Thursday,
March 29, at
Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.
For Immediate
Release
Contact: Joe
Molina
JMPR Public
Relations, Inc.
(818) 606-0922
(cell)
(818) 992-4353
ext. 11