Arthur Frommer | |
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 Frommer in 2007 | |
| Born | Arthur Bernard Frommer (1929-07-17)July 17, 1929 Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | November 18, 2024(2024-11-18) (aged 95) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University Yale Law School |
| Genre | Travel Guides, Consumer Advocacy |
| Spouse | Hope Arthur (divorced)[when?] |
| Children | Pauline Frommer |
| Website | |
| frommers | |
Arthur Bernard Frommer (/ˈfroʊmər/) (July 17, 1929 – November 18, 2024) was an American travel writer known for founding theFrommer's brand of travel guides.
Arthur Bernard Frommer was born on July 17, 1929, inLynchburg, Virginia, the son of Pauline (Abrams) and Nathan Frommer.[1] His parents were Jewish immigrants, his father from Austria and his mother from Poland.[2][3] He spent his earliest years inJefferson City, Missouri, before he and his family moved toNew York City when he was 14.[2] He attendedErasmus Hall High School inBrooklyn, and went on toNew York University in 1950 with a political science degree.[2] He graduated with honors fromYale Law School, where he was an editor of theYale Law Journal, in 1953.[4]
Frommer was drafted into theUnited States Army during theKorean War.[5] Rather than being sent to Korea, he was sent to Europe because of his linguistic abilities.[2] In 1955, while serving in Germany, Frommer wrote and self-published a guidebook calledThe GI's Guide to Traveling In Europe.[2] It sold out its first print run.[3]
In 1957, Frommer followed up with a civilian version calledEurope on 5 Dollars a Day, which covered major European urban destinations.[2] It became one of the best selling travel guides of all time. For five years, Frommer practiced law and expanded his guidebook publishing empire. As a lawyer, he worked atPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and was involved with water rights cases in the American West, as well as defendingD.H. Lawrence's controversial novelLady Chatterley's Lover against theU.S. Post Office (a benchmarkFirst Amendment case). In 1962, Frommer founded tour operator $5-a-Day Tours, Inc.[4] He also left the practice of law in 1961 to pursue his travel business, Arthur Frommer International, Inc.,[2] of which he was chairman and president until 1981.[citation needed]
Frommer's writing was not restricted to travel. HisThe Bible and the Public Schools (1963) was a defense of that year'sSupreme Court decision banning compulsory Bible reading in public schools.[6] HisGoldwater From A to Z (1964) was an argument against theRepublican presidential candidateBarry Goldwater in the1964 United States presidential election.[6]
In 1969, Frommer built a hotel in Amsterdam, now known as the Hotel Mercure Amsterdam Arthur Frommer, and part of theAccor group. In total, Frommer built four Arthur Frommer hotels (in Aruba, Curacao, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam).[1]
Frommer sold the travel guide book business toSimon & Schuster in 1977, it changed hands a few times, and Frommer eventually reacquired the rights in 2012.[7]
In the 1980s, he publishedFrommer's New World of Travel, which advocated alternative vacation styles, and founded Budget Travel magazine, which he sold toNewsweek.[8] He briefly ventured into general bargain shopping in 2005–2006 with the quarterly magazineArthur Frommer's Smart Shopping.[6] He wrote a travel column syndicated throughKing Features Syndicate for over 2 decades. He had a weekly syndicated radio show for over 20 years,The Travel Show with Arthur and Pauline Frommer, also hosted with his daughter Pauline (from his first marriage), co-president of Frommer Media LLC.[9]
In 1997, Arthur Frommer was brought on by publisher IDG (later known as Hungry Minds) to create Frommers.com.[10] It became one of the first travel sites on the web and it remains one of the top sources for unbiased, journalistically created travel information on the internet, receiving millions of page views per month.[citation needed]
Over the decades, over 75 million Frommer's guidebooks have been sold.[2]
After Frommer's marriage to Hope Arthur ended in divorce, he married Roberta Brodfield in 1994.[3] He had one daughter and two stepdaughters.[2] He died of complications frompneumonia at his home on Manhattan'sUpper West Side on November 18, 2024, at the age of 95.[2][1]
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