Herbert R. Axelrod
| Herbert R. Axelrod | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 7, 1927 Bayonne, New Jersey |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | Ph.D. |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation | tropical fish expert, publisher of pet books, musical instrument collector, and entrepreneur |
Herbert Richard Axelrod (born June 7, 1927 in Bayonne, New Jersey) is a tropical fish expert, and formerly a publisher of pet books and an entrepreneur. In 2005 he was sentenced in U.S. court to 18 months in prison for tax fraud.
Axelrod was born to a Jewish family in New Jersey, the son of immigrant parents from Russia. His father was a mathematics and violin teacher, and his mother was a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy.
While in Korea he wrote his book The Handbook of Tropical Aquarium Fishes. After returning from Korea, Axelrod earned a Ph.D. at New York University and started the magazine Tropical Fish Hobbyist. He wrote many other books on tropical fish and founded a publishing firm, TFH Publications (named for the magazine) that became the largest publisher of pet books in the world. TFH Publications was headquartered first in Jersey City, New Jersey, then in Neptune, New Jersey.
In 1989 he donated his collection of fossil fish to the University of Guelph, which the university says is one of the largest donations by an individual to a Canadian university. The Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology at that university was named for him. The University of Guelph also named a lecture hall after him, the Axelrod Building, but in 2010 renamed the Alexander Building, after Lincoln Alexander. Leonard P. Schultz described the cardinal tetra, a popular aquarium fish, which had been found by Harald Sioli in Brazil in 1953, and gave it its scientific name, Paracheirodon axelrodi, which honors Axelrod.
In 1997 Axelrod sold TFH Publications to Central Garden & Pet Company of California for $70 million. The contract included potential payouts to Axelrod if TFH reached earnings targets after the sale. He sued under that provision, accusing Central Garden of suppressing earnings to avoid paying the extra money. The following year, however, the purchaser filed a countersuit against him, claiming that he had grossly and illegally inflated the value of the company before the purchase. On September 1, 2005, Axelrod was ordered to pay Central Garden & Pet Company $16.4 million (net, after deducting $3.7 million the company was ordered to pay Axelrod due to earnings targets).
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