Marvin R. Shanken, founder, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado, died on October 29, 2026, at the age of 83. Born in 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut, Shanken built one of the most influential publishing houses in the worlds of wine, spirits and cigars.
His career began in 1972, when he bought a trade newsletter for the drinks industry. In 1979 he took over Wine Spectator, then a small free tabloid, and turned it into a leading magazine. In the fall of 1992 he launched Cigar Aficionado, which presented the cigar as a luxury product and coincided with a boom in US premium cigar imports, which roughly quadrupled in less than five years. His company, M. Shanken Communications, also created The Big Smoke event (since 1993), and in 2011 it relaunched Malt Advocate as Whisky Advocate.
Shanken is survived by his wife, Hazel, three daughters and four grandchildren.
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Source: Cigar Aficionado