Today, Cigar Aficianado announced the passing of its founder, editor and publisher Marvin Shanken. He founded M. Shanken Communications Inc., which is the parent company of Cigar Aficionado, Wine Spectator and Whiskey Advocate.
Marvin was born in 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut. He studied business at the University of Miami, He later worked on Wall Street where he primarily worked for an investment firm working on real estate investments. Two years later, he was sent to California to finance a vineyard purchase where he discovered there was very little public knowledge on the wine industry. After the deal was made, the client took Shanken to dinner where he ordered a 1961 Pétrus, a wine he didn’t know much about but had heard of, and that was when he decided he wanted to learn everything he could about wine.
In 1972, Shanken borrowed $5,000 from his sister Elaine and purchased Impact, a small newsletter mostly pertaining to the small beverage alcohol industry and within ten years, he had built it into a successful publication that was viewed by thousands. Like most of us in the cigar media, he ran this part time on the side while working his regular job. Following this, he went on to purchase struggling The Wine Spectator which was a newspaper publication given away for free that he eventually transformed into a magazine like we know it today.
In 1991, he was writing a story on Cuban cigars called “the Allure of Cuban Cigars”. He had said that after returning from a trip to Cuba to prepare that story, it was on the plane where he realized “I don’t want to die without having a cigar magazine.” In 1992, the first issue of Cigar Aficionado was released which was something he had wanted to do for a long time being a lover of cigars. He is credited with being perhaps the original dedicated cigar press and helping to revitalize and introduce new excitement into the cigar business after it had been struggling for quite some time.
Marvin Shanken will be remembered for being a pioneer in professional journalism in the alcohol and tobacco industries, and even helping to initiate the cigar boom of the 1990’s. He paved the way for future generations to join the ranks of journalism, as well has help retailers and manufacturers grow their businesses to some of the big names we know today.
*Photo Credit: Cigar Aficionado Magazine
