Bob Guccione

Bob Guccione (December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.

Penthouse began publication in 1965 in England and in America from 1969. Penthouse was an attempt to compete with Hugh Hefner's Playboy on several levels. One approach Guccione took was offering editorial content that was more sensationalistic than Playboy. The magazine's writing was aimed more at the middlebrow reader than Hefner's upscale emphasis, with stories about government cover-ups and scandals.Due to his lack of money and other resources, Guccione himself photographed most of the models for the magazine's early issues. Lacking professional training, Guccione applied his knowledge of painting to his photography, establishing the diffused, soft focus-look that would become one of the trademarks of the magazine's pictorials. Guccione would sometimes take several days to complete a shoot.
Guccione was once listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people, with $400 million net worth in 1982. An April 2002 New York Times article quoted Guccione as saying that Penthouse grossed $3.5 billion to $4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with a net income of almost 500 million dollars.
Guccione died of cancer on October 20, 2010, two months before his 80th birthday, at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano, Texas; suffering according to his wife from lung cancer for some time. Two of his children were by his side.