Foresight Built Media Empire; Think Ahead: TV Guide founder Walter Annenberg anticipated the next big things.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: IBD STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Walter H. Annenberg didn't believe in making little splashes.

When he and his nine sisters inherited a Philadelphia newspaper from his father, Annenberg decided the business needed to grow -- in a big way.

By keeping a careful eye on national trends, he predicted that two groups would expand in leaps and bounds: TV viewers and teen-agers with disposable income. So he poured years of effort into developing two new national magazines aimed at those groups.

By following his instincts, Annenberg became one of the wealthiest men in the U.S.

Annenberg -- who founded Seventeen magazine, parlayed America's love affair with TV into a fortune by launching TV Guide magazine and later served as ambassador to Great Britain -- died Tuesday. He was 94. He died at his home in suburban Wynnewood, N.J., of complications from pneumonia, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Annenberg wasn't just focused on making money; he believed using it to help others was vital. To that end, he gave billions of dollars to charity and endowed two leading journalism schools.