Bob Guccione - Early Life

Early Life

Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Sicilian descent, and raised as a Roman Catholic in Bergenfield, New Jersey. His father Anthony was an accountant. His mother, Nina, was a housewife. He considered, but rejected, entering the priesthood. He attended high school at Blair Academy, a prep school in Blairstown, New Jersey.

Guccione married the first of his four wives, Lilyann Becker, before the age of 20, and had a daughter, Tonina. The marriage soon failed. He left his wife and child to go to Europe, where he wanted to be a painter. He eventually met an English woman, Muriel, moved to London with her, and married her. They had four children, Bob Jr. Nina, Tony, and Nicky. To support his family he managed a chain of laundromats, until he got work as a cartoonist on an American weekly newspaper, The London American, while Muriel started a business selling pinup posters. He occasionally created cartoons for Bill Box's humorous greeting card company, Box Cards.