Benedikt Taschen

Benedikt Taschen is the youngest of five children; both of his parents were doctors. From an early age he was an enthusiastic reader and comic book fan. At 12 years old, he began a successful mail order business selling used comic books from the United States.

Personal life and recognition

In 2000, Billy Wilder told magazine Vanity Fair that “Benedikt reminds me of an old-time Hollywood figure. A studio head, someone who is in firm command and has his hand in everything.” In turn, Matt Weiner, creator and producer of the hit series Mad Men, described Taschen as “a miracle of taste in publishing... He consistently maintains incredible quality in content and style... He documents both the present and the past in an indispensable way.”

Taschen is in his third marriage, to Lauren Taschen, and has five children; three from his first and two from his third marriage. His eldest daughter, Marlene, began work at the publishing house in 2011 and has risen to managing director of the company. Taschen lives and works in Los Angeles.

In 2014, Taschen donated $500,000 to the Wende Museum in Culver City, California, to facilitate the founding of an international center for the exploration and preservation of the culture, art, design, and history of the Cold War. Benedikt and his wife Lauren Taschen also donated an extensive collection of works by young American and European artists to MOCA in Los Angeles.