Fred D. Thompson

Frederick Delos Thompson Jr. (1915 – September 17, 1988) was an American publishing executive. He was a former president and chief executive of Family Circle and a former vice president of The New York Times.

Biography Thompson was born in 1915 in San Antonio, Texas.

After graduation, Thompson toured Europe and the Middle East, using money he had raised by selling subscriptions to the Reader's Digest, and began his career at the magazine. He helped establish the magazine's first international division in Latin America, and directed the distribution of the magazine's military edition across Europe and Asia Pacific. In 1947, he founded the Reader's Digest branch of Canada. In 1954, he was named director of national advertising and subsequently served as worldwide advertising director. Acheson was the niece of Reader's Digest founders Lila Acheson Wallace and DeWitt Wallace.