Steven T. Florio | Ex-Conde Nast leader, 58
Steven T. Florio, 58, a hard-driving executive who worked his way up the publishing ladder to lead the Conde Nast magazine empire, died at a New York City hospital Thursday of complications from an earlier heart attack, said Maurie Perl, a spokeswoman for Conde Nast Publications. Mr. Florio was president and chief executive of Conde Nast through 2004, expanding it to the second-biggest magazine publisher in the country while many others were cutting staff and costs. He managed 16 magazines aimed at well-to-do readers, selling advertising that appealed to their luxury tastes and reaching more than 70 million readers a month. "I was, after all, Steve Florio, the Godfather, the Samurai, the leader, the warrior," he wrote in a 2005 proposal for an autobiography that he decided not to publish. Under him, Conde Nast included Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, as well as Glamour, Architectural Digest, Self, GQ, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler, Allure, Wired, Lucky and Teen Vogue. Born in Queens, N.Y., Mr. Florio graduated from New York University with a business degree in 1971. He started his career at Esquire, then became publisher of GQ. He was named president of the New Yorker in 1985, when the magazine was purchased by Advance Publications, the Conde Nast parent company owned by the Newhouse family. - AP
Steven T. Florio, 58, a hard-driving executive who worked his way up the publishing ladder to lead the Conde Nast magazine empire, died at a New York City hospital Thursday of complications from an earlier heart attack, said Maurie Perl, a spokeswoman for Conde Nast Publications.
Mr. Florio was president and chief executive of Conde Nast through 2004, expanding it to the second-biggest magazine publisher in the country while many others were cutting staff and costs.
He managed 16 magazines aimed at well-to-do readers, selling advertising that appealed to their luxury tastes and reaching more than 70 million readers a month.
"I was, after all, Steve Florio, the Godfather, the Samurai, the leader, the warrior," he wrote in a 2005 proposal for an autobiography that he decided not to publish.
Under him, Conde Nast included Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, as well as Glamour, Architectural Digest, Self, GQ, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Conde Nast Traveler, Allure, Wired, Lucky and Teen Vogue.
Born in Queens, N.Y., Mr. Florio graduated from New York University with a business degree in 1971.
He started his career at Esquire, then became publisher of GQ. He was named president of the New Yorker in 1985, when the magazine was purchased by Advance Publications, the Conde Nast parent company owned by the Newhouse family.
- AP