Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione dies at 79

[jefferson_dem]

RIP Bob. You were a trail blazer. That's for sure.

Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione dies at 79
By TERRY WALLACE, Associated Press Writer Terry Wallace, Associated Press Writer – 13 mins ago

DALLAS – Bob Guccione, who founded Penthouse magazine and created an erotic corporate empire around it, only to see it crumble as his investments soured and the world of pornography turned toward video and the Internet, died Wednesday. He was 79.



A statement issued by the Guccione family says he died at Plano Specialty Hospital in Plano. His wife, April Dawn Warren Guccione, had said he had battled lung cancer for several years.

Penthouse reached the pinnacle of its popularity in September 1984, when it published nude pictures of Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America. Williams, now a singer and actress, was forced to relinquish her crown after the release of the issue, which sold nearly 6 million copies and reportedly made $14 million.

A frustrated artist who once attended a Catholic seminary, Guccione started Penthouse in 1965 in England to subsidize his art career and was the magazine's first photographer. He introduced the magazine to the American public in 1969 at the height of the feminist movement and the sexual revolution.

Penthouse quickly posed a challenge to Hugh Hefner's Playboy by offering a mix of tabloid journalism with provocative photos of nude women, dubbed Penthouse Pets.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101021/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_guccione

[nolabear]

1. Tits up, eh?

Sorrysorrysorry... Hope he enjoyed his life and rests easy.

[emilyg]

2. RIP.

[mitchum]

3. Rest In Peace, I loved your aesthetic, Bob

Hefner was too white bread
and Flynt too crude

[The Midway Rebel]

4. I cannot believe that I would ever write this lettter...

I read nearly all of his various publications over the years. I looked at a lot of pictures too! I really dug Omni and Spin back in the day. I always preferred Pets over Playmates myself. So long Bob. Thanks for the mammaries.

[Swede]

5. I think I spotted a furry.

RIP Bob.

[Brickbat]

6. Does this mean there will never be a "Caligula II"?

DAMNIT!