M. Shanken Communications founder Marvin R. Shanken died October 29 at 83, closing a career that connected drinks industry research with consumer magazines, events and philanthropy. The company announced his death in New York, describing a publisher whose titles included Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado and Whisky Advocate.
For more than half a century, M. Shanken Communications served suppliers, distributors and retailers through trade publications and market analysis, while its consumer magazines addressed people who buy and drink wine, spirits and cigars. The model grew from a newsletter he bought with borrowed money.
From Impact to M. Shanken Communications
Born October 4, 1943, in New Haven, Connecticut, Shanken earned a business degree from the University of Miami in 1965. He began on Wall Street in 1968, then bought Impact, a beverage alcohol business newsletter, in 1972 with $5,000 borrowed from his sister Elaine. He kept his day job until 1975, when he began working on the newsletter full time.
Impact’s annual research study first appeared in 1976 and later became the Shanken’s Impact Databank reports. Shanken started the Impact Marketing Seminar in 1977 as a yearly forum for industry leaders. M. Shanken Communications later added the trade publications Market Watch and Shanken News Daily.
Like other owner-led companies, Shanken’s business expanded through research, consumer coverage and events, as seen in this family business growth story.
Wine Spectator Reaches Consumers
Wine Spectator began in San Diego in 1976 as a free newspaper available in wine shops. Its founder, Bob Morrisey, could no longer keep it going, and Shanken bought the publication. The July 16, 1979, issue was his first as publisher.
Under his ownership, the staff moved from San Diego to San Francisco in 1982. The magazine introduced a 100-point wine scoring scale in 1985, and a 1987 redesign changed it from a newsprint tabloid into a full magazine. Shanken kept its focus on consumers rather than the trade.
In 1981, he created the Wine Spectator Grand Award to recognize restaurants with exceptional wine lists and direct readers to them. The Award of Excellence and Best of Award of Excellence followed in 1985. The honors formed the Restaurant Awards program, still entered by wine-focused restaurants annually.
That same year, Shanken co-hosted a Grand Award banquet that began the Wine Experience, bringing leading wine producers together with consumers for tastings and seminars. The event model carried into later projects: Cigar Aficionado launched in fall 1992, followed by its first Big Smoke gathering in 1993. In 2010, Shanken bought Malt Advocate, renamed it Whisky Advocate and expanded its WhiskyFest events. M. Shanken Communications also acquired Food Arts.
Scholarships and Community Giving
Shanken founded the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation in 1983 to support students preparing for careers in winemaking and hospitality. Producers donate wines poured at the Wine Experience, and its net proceeds go to the foundation. The event has raised more than $40 million for scholarships and grants.
In 2009, Shanken and his wife, Hazel, joined golfer Ernie Els and his wife, Liezl, in founding the Els for Autism Foundation. The fundraising built the Els Center of Excellence in South Florida, an education and recreation center for children with autism that opened in 2015. Beginning in 2000, he sponsored New York City schoolchildren’s trips to Gilbert & Sullivan Players performances.
The Association of Magazine Media honored Shanken with its Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2019. He is survived by Hazel; sisters Elaine and Susan; daughters Jessica Shanken Reid, Samantha Shanken Baker and Allison Cohen; and four grandchildren, Jake, Lauren, Asher and Jordan. His career joined industry information with consumer publishing, hospitality events and charitable giving, while M. Shanken Communications and its publications remain his business legacy.
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