Sime Silverman

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Sime Silverman (1873-1933) was an American newspaper publisher best known as the founder of the weekly Variety in New York in 1905 and the Hollywood-based Daily Variety in 1933.

Silverman, born in Cortland, New York, was the publisher and editor of Variety until his death from a heart attack at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard soon after launching the daily.

His son Sidne (1901-1950), known as "Skiggie", succeeded him as editor and publisher of both publications. Both Sidne and his wife, stage actress Marie Saxon (1905-1942), died of tuberculosis. Their only son Syd, born 1932, was the sole heir to what was then Variety Inc.

Guardian Harold Erichs oversaw Variety until 1956. From then Syd, who graduated from Princeton, took over and managed the company until 1987, when he sold it to Cahners Publishing (now Reed Elsevier) for US$64 million.