RIP Richard Goldwater
Archie Comics President and Co-Publisher Richard Goldwater passed away last week. Archie released the following obituary:
Richard H. Goldwater, President/Co-Publisher of Archie Comics, passed away October 2, 2007, after a courageous battle with cancer. Richard’s father, John Goldwater, was the creator of “Archie Andrews” – America’s perennial teenage “everyman,” and his girlfriends “Betty Cooper” and “Veronica Lodge.” In 1941, John and his business partners, Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne, founded MLJ, the company that later came to be known as Archie Comic Publications. Richard joined the Company after college and, after working his way up through the Company learning all facets of running a successful comic book publishing business, took the Company private together with his life-long friend, Louis’ son, Michael Silberkleit, Chairman/Co-Publisher.
As Editor-In-Chief, Richard strived to produce good, clean, wholesome comics suitable for family entertainment. Under Richard’s careful stewardship, millions of fans all over the world have grown up chuckling at the antics of “Archie” and his friends. He helped make the “bff” relationship between “Betty” and “Veronica” and the “Archie,” “Betty” and “Veronica” love triangle an integral part of American popular culture. Over the years, “Archie” and his friends have changed with the times and embraced current fads. They’ve gone from poodle skirts and sock hops to e-mail and in-line skating. But the age-old teenage issues of dating, crushes, school, homework, sports and parents that they struggle with have remained the same. Nowadays, “Archie” and his friends interact with fans online at ArchieComics.com.
When asked about the reason for “Archie’s” enduring appeal, Richard told the New York Times in 1973: “He’s basically a square, but in my opinion squares are the backbone of America. If we didn’t have squares, we wouldn’t have strong families.”
Richard worked tirelessly to make sure Riverdale was the kind of town you would want to live in. While the main characters have always been “Archie,” “Betty,” “Veronica,” “Jughead” and “Reggie,” Richard made sure that a diverse cast of ethnic characters were an integral part of Riverdale’s population. Just about everyone in America has at one time read an Archie Comic.
Richard was instrumental in the introduction of new properties, such as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Josie and the Pussycats,” and in the diversification of the Archie Comics product line via the addition of licensed properties, such as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Sonic the Hedgehog.” In each case, Richard ensured that the comic stories fit with the company’s strong family values. He took great satisfaction knowing that Archie Comics only produced comics with content that parents could trust to be appropriate for their children. Richard was instrumental in expanding the reach of Archie Comics beyond U.S. borders. Archie Comics have been translated from English into French, Spanish, German, Greek, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Vietnamese, Hindi and Arabic.
Richard also assisted Michael with efforts to expand Archie’s core characters into other mediums – including countless “Archie”, “Sabrina” and “Josie” animated television series, a long running live action “Sabrina” television series that has been seen in 34 different countries, a “Josie and the Pussycats” theatrical motion picture and “The Archies” musical group that had tremendous success in the 60’s and 70’s.
In commenting upon Richard’s passing, Michael said: “I am proud to know that my good friend Richard played a major role in bringing America’s favorite teenage humor characters into millions of American homes. I will miss him profoundly, both as a life-long friend and business partner.”
Victor Gorelick, Vice President/Managing Editor, said, “I worked with Richard for almost 50 years. He passed on his enthusiasm and love for the “Archie” characters to me. He was my boss and my friend. I’m going to miss him and our almost daily talks. While he would come into my office to go over cover ideas, story topics and editorial direction, we also enjoyed engaging in lively discussions about cars, food, boats and the good old days.”
Richard is survived by his three daughters, Lisa, Taylor and Summer. There will be a Memorial Service to celebrate Richard’s life on Wednesday, October 10th at Zion Memorial Chapel, 785 E. Boston Post Rd. Mamaroneck NY at 2PM (914-381-1809). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to The Center for Hope, 590 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820 (203-655-4693).
10/8/07 at 10:57 am
Thank you for your work, Richard.
Comics needs more people like you.
Rest in peace.
10/9/07 at 4:16 pm
Archie Comics Digests were my first comics. I had tons of those things. Eventually, I moved on to the superhero stuff, but it started with Archie for me.
10/10/07 at 3:59 pm
Almost everyone knows about the fun of Archie comics. RIP Mr. Goldwater.
10/25/07 at 8:21 pm
Shame on Archie Comics for not even mentioning Dan DeCarlo, who created Josie and Sabrina but was screwed out of the payment he should have received by Goldwater. For the company to now screw him out of his credit, and instead imply Goldwater created the chaaracters, is despicable.
12/31/07 at 7:43 pm
I agree that DeCarlo was shafted, but hey, in godlike fashion John Goldwater created Archie in his own former schoolboy image, and even used the Riverdale area, where he himself once lived (and is close to the Archie publications building to this day), as the backdrop for the whole thing.
And one Archie is worth a thousand Sabrinas and Josies.
(Yes, Montana fleshed out the supporting characters very well, but he didn’t create the concept of the book anymore than DeCarlo did.)
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08/8/08 at 7:20 pm
[…] Michael Silberkleit, 1932-2008 Archie Comic Publications has disseminated a press release announcing the passing of their chairman and co-publisher, Michael Silberkleit, on August 5th. He died in New York City from complications arising from cancer. He was 76 years old. Silberkleit was the son of Archie co-founder Louis Silberkleit and began working at the company at 16 years old. He was born in New York City and attended the Fieldsteon School and Albright College. He majored in history. The press release claims he studied law at some point, but doesn’t indicate where it would have been while he was working at Archie. Silberkleit spent much of his time at Archie as the primary business partner of Richard Goldwater, son of the other co-founder, John Goldwater. Both came up through the company’s various department, starting out as errand boys and gofers. In perhaps the most dramatic period in Archie’s history, the pair took the company public and then private again. The early 1970s decision to take Archie public was according to Silberkleit designed to fund an effort to offer Archie Restaurant franchises during a period in which American business was fascinated by the franchising model. Silberkleit served as treasurer and as a director during the public phase of the company’s history. “Several outside people felt that Archie Enterprises was ripe for a hostile takeover,” Silberkleit told interviewer Rik Offenberger. “They started buying stock on the open market, attempting to gain control. Tender offers were made. Richard and I decided to buy back all of the stock. We made a tender offer higher than what was made and the shareholders voted to accept ours. We then bought back all of the stock of Archie held by the public and took the company private.” Goldwater passed away in Fall 2007. Other accomplishments credited to the lengthy Silberkleit era at the company include the licensing of the characters to Spire Christian Comics, managing new characters such as Josie and the Pussycats, licensing its superhero characters to DC in the early 1990s and then ending that agreement when sales did not meet the company’s expectations, the Archie Meets the Punisher project, TV shows for the Archie characters both cartoon and live-action, a film for the Josie property, licensed comics offering such as the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book and a title featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a generally conservative take on maintaining the Archie characters’ iconic, all-American status. Archie’s release notes that Silberkleit also served as chairman of the Comics Association of America, a volunteer auxiliary policeman for the Scarsdale Police force and enjoyed restoring vintage sports cars. Michael Silberkleit is surived by his wife, three daughters, a son and two grandchildren. A memorial is planned for Sunday; donations can be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. […]