Henry R. Luce II

News Organizations and Titles: Editor in chief of all Time Inc. publications, including Time, Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated, 1923-64; reporter, Chicago Daily News, 1920-21; reporter Baltimore News, 1921.

Legacy: A pioneer whose contributions to journalism extend far beyond business reporting, Mr. Luce founded Fortune.

Personal: Born April 3, 1898, in Tengchow, China; died Feb. 28, 1967.

Family: Mr. Luce married Lila Hotz, whom he later divorced, and she died in 1999. His second wife, Clare Boothe, whom he married Nov. 23, 1935, died in 1987. He had two sons from his first marriage, Henry R. Luce III, of New York, N.Y., and Peter Paul, of Englewood, Colo.

Education:Graduated from Yale in 1920.

What he has said about himself or his publications: About the lack of business coverage throughout the 1910s and 1920s: "The average reporter knows more about astronomy than he does about industry."

Home run stories or accomplishments: In 1923, he and Briton Hadden launched Time magazine. In 1930, the publication of Fortune began. In 1936, Life magazine premiered. In 1954, Sports Illustrated started. During his career, Time Inc. included television programs, five radio stations and six television stations, a book-publishing enterprise and part-ownership of the Time & Life Building.

What others have said about him: Vice President Hubert Humphrey at the time of Mr. Luce's death: "No single man in his time has had more influence in communicating current events to the people of this country and the world." Gardner Cowles, editorial chairman of Cowles Communications and Look magazine: "Henry Luce was a true journalistic genius. There has been no one in journalism for whom I had more admiration and respect. His influence will be felt for generations."

More on Luce: Mr. Luce, known as Harry, was a titan of journalism who saw his magazines as shapers of public opinion and powerful tools for the public good.

Reporting, he once said, will acknowledge stories have two or more sides, but never will fail to tell the reader which one Time favors. As editor in chief of all Time Inc. magazines from the company's founding in 1923 to his retirement in 1964, Mr. Luce founded Fortune as what he described as a "beautiful" magazine to tell the story of American industry and the people who run it.

He aimed to correct what he saw as woeful business reporting. Said Mr. Luce: "An honest analysis of business was regarded as vulgar or communistic or both. The attitude then, under King Calvin Coolidge, was that something called private business as then organized was the God-given order of the universe."

Still, Fortune, as a voice of Mr. Luce's "American Century," was mostly favorable to big business and the U.S. business establishment. Through the decades, though, it evolved into its current edgy, sharper, more critical form, with some of the best business reporting in the profession.