Luce was born in Tengchow, China, the son of a Presbyterian missionary. and educated in various bording schools in China and England. He first arrived in the U.S. at the age of 15 to attend the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and later graduated from Yale University in 1920.
Luce first met Briton Hadden at Hotchkiss while the latter was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and Luce worked at an assistant managing editor. The two continued to work together at Yale, where Hadden was chairman and Luce was editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News.
After graduating from Yale, Luce spent a year studying history at Oxford University and worked for the Chicago Daily News after his return. In 1921, Luce joined Hadden at the Baltimore News. Both quit their jobs in 1922 to found TIME magazine.
With the first issue of TIME published on March 3, 1923, Luce served as business manager while Hadden was editor-in-chief. Upon Hadden's sudden death in 1929, Luce assumed Hadden's position.
Luce bought out the business magazine Fortune in 1930 and the pictoral Life magazine in 1936, and launched House & Home in 1952 and Sports Illustrated in 1954. He also produced The March of Time for radio and cinema.
Luce, who remained editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964, was an influential member of the Republican Party. Holding anti-communist sentiments and an interest in his land of birth, he was an instrumental figure behind the so-called "China Lobby," and played a large role in steering American foreign policy and popular sentiment in favor of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong May-ling.
Luce had two children - Peter Paul and Henry Luce III - from his first marriage. He married his second wife, Clare Boothe Brokaw in 1939. He died in Phoenix, Arizona.
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