Wick Allison

Wick Allison, birth name Lodowick Brodie Cobb Allison (born March 17, 1948), is an American magazine publisher and author. He currently is the owner of D Magazine, a monthly magazine covering Dallas-Fort Worth, which he co-founded in 1974, and the principal owner of People Newspapers, which he purchased in 2003.

Personal

Allison was born in Dallas, Texas, and is a seventh-generation Texan. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1971. He served as editor of the student humor magazine Texas Ranger and earned a degree in American Studies. Upon graduation, he served in the White House on the President's Commission on Campus Unrest and subsequently joined the United States Army. He attended the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, where he developed his business plan for D Magazine before dropping out. Allison converted from Methodism to Catholicism in 1978. In 1983, he married the former Christine Peterson and has four daughters. Allison and his wife had a child with developmental difficulties, which was discussed in a profile of Allison which was published by the Washington Post.

Career

Magazine publishing

Allison co-founded D Magazine, a monthly magazine covering Dallas, in 1974, with backing from Dallas investor Ray Lee Hunt. In 1981, he and a group of investors purchased Sport Magazine, which they sold in 1984. He went on to found and publish Art & Antiques Magazine in 1984. In 1985, Allison was asked by William F. Buckley, Jr. to join the board of directors of the National Review, and in 1980 he became its publisher, succeeding William A. Rusher. In 1981 or 1982 Allison sold his company Allison Publications, publisher of Art & Antiques. In 1993, he resigned as publisher of National Review. In 1985, he and investor Harlan Crow repurchased D Magazine, and in 1991, Allison bought out Crow to become the magazine company's sole owner. In 1993, Allison edited a new edition of The Bible To Be Read As Living Literature, published by Simon & Schuster. He is also the author of Is That In The Bible? (Dell, 1992) and Condemned To Repeat It: History Lessons For Leaders (Viking Penguin, 1998).

Current Events

In September 2008, he published an article in D Magazine entitled "A Conservative For Obama", in which he endorsed then Senator Barack Obama for President.