Arthur Frommer, who built a travel media empire that included books, magazines, newspaper columns, television and radio died November 18 from pneumonia complications.
Helming one of the most recognized guidebook brands in the world, Frommer’s influence on the traveling public over the past seven decades has been profound. More than 75 million guidebooks bearing the Frommer name have been sold since the mid-1950s.
His publishing career began when he was still a draftee in the U.S. Army, stationed in Europe. A polyglot who spoke German, Russian, French and Spanish, he took full advantage of his posting in Germany to travel extensively. In response to his fellow soldiers’ curiosity about his adventures, he self-published “The G.I.’s Guide to Europe” in 1955. It quickly sold out in PXs across the continent.
Two years later, the self-published “Europe on $5 a Day” made him a household name. Frommer was a lawyer by training and worked on notable cases, including successfully defending D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” against the U.S. Postal Service, which had refused to carry the novel on the grounds it was “pornographic.” He also worked on a landmark California vs. Arizona water rights case. Even after the success of “Europe on $5 a Day,” he continued his law career.
He worked on guidebooks as a side hustle for another five years before devoting full-time to writing and publishing.
