Martin S. Ackerman

Martin S. Ackerman (1932 – August 1, 1993) was a lawyer and businessman known for mergers and acquisitions.

Biography In 1932, Martin S. Ackerman was born to Rebecca Ackerman.

Business career Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation was formed in 1962 by Ackerman from parts of his first four acquisitions: United Whelan Corporation, Hudson National, Perfect Photos, and Equality Plastics Inc. Hudson was a mail-order firm and Equality Plastics Inc. was a consumer products distributor.

In 1968, Ackerman's Perfect Film loaned $5 million into Curtis Publishing Company at the request of Curtis' primary loan holder, First National Bank of Boston, to extend its loans. Ackerman had Curtis sell the Downe stock for operating cash. 6 million Post subscribers were sold to Life for cash, a 2.5 million dollar loan and became a customer of Curtis' subsidiaries for circulation and printing services. With all these attempts to revive the Post and lack of a purchaser, Curtis Publishing shut down the Evening Post in 1969. In 1969, Ackerman left Curtis and Perfect Film.

Personal life and death Ackerman married twice. His first wife was Frances Shapiro. They divorced and he remarried to Diane Leighton. Ackerman died at the age of 61 on August 1, 1993, at Mount Sinai Hospital, Manhattan, from acute sepsis, after an operation. He was survived by his wife, his son, Richard Ackerman, and his three daughters, Kelly L. Ackerman, Debra Ackerman, and Victoria Ackerman Richardson.

Books Ackerman wrote many books, including: The Curtis Affair (Nash, 1970) With Diane Leighton, Money, Power, Ego: A Manual for Would-be Wheeler-Dealers (Playboy, 1976)

Philanthropy Ackerman established a foundation to donate art worth millions of dollars.