Czech-born, who owned several UK national newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, the Macmillan Publishing Bompany, and the New York Daily News. At the time of his death the Maxwell domain carried debts of some $3.9 billion. Born into a poor Jewish family in Czechoslovakia, he escaped to Romania 1939 and later to Britain. His father was shot and his mother and other members of his family died in Auschwitz. As a young man, he had a distinguished wartime army career, and was awarded the Military Cross. He founded two major organizations: the family-owned Liechtenstein-based Maxwell Foundation, which owns 51% of Mirror Group Newspapers; and Maxwell Communication Corporation, 67% owned by the Maxwell family, which has shares in publishing, electronics, and information companies. He was also the publisher of the English edition of Moscow News from 1988, and had private interests (not connected with the Maxwell Corporation) in the Hungarian newspapers Esti Hirlap and Magyar Hirlap (he owned 40% of the latter, from 1989), the German Berliner Verlag, and the Israeli Maariv. Maxwell was Labour member of Parliament for Buckingham 1964-70. Acquiring the Mirror Group of newspapers from Reed International 1984, he introduced colour and made it profitable. In 1990 he bought the US book publisher Macmillan and in 1991 the New York Daily News, which was on the verge of closure after a bitter labour dispute. In the UK the national newspapers owned by the Maxwell Foundation 1984-91 were the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and People (all of which support the Labour party); in 1990 the weekly European was launched. In late 1991 Maxwell, last seen on his yacht off the Canary Islands, was found dead at sea. His sons Kevin and Ian were named as his successors. After his death it was revealed that he had been involved in fraudulent practices for much of his career. In 1991 the Serious Fraud Office started an investigation into pension fund losses following reports of transfers of over ú400 million from the Maxwell pension funds to the private Maxwell firms, to offset mounting company losses, affecting more than 30,000 current and future pensioners. Kevin and Ian Maxwell and Larry Trachtenberg (financial adviser) were arrested and charged 1992. In May 1995 Kevin and Ian Maxwell went on trial, charged with conspiring to commit fraud. In Jan 1996 they were cleared of all charges to defraud the Maxwell pension funds, following an eight-month trial that cost ú25 million.
