Early Life
At the age of 13, he started a successful printing business. At 16, he entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1951 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. As a graduate student, he taught introductory marketing classes while running the "Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI)", his first significant business. A first in the industry, it published a centralized directory of promotional materials and their suppliers, the Advertising Specialty Register.
In 1964, Segel took note of two concurrent events – the passing of General Douglas MacArthur and people lining up at banks to buy up the last U.S. silver dollars. In response, he founded the National Commemorative Society, which introduced a monthly series of limited edition, sterling silver commemorative coin-like medals honoring events and heroes in American history, starting with a medal commemorating General Douglas MacArthur. Later that year, dissatisfied with the quality of the coin-medals produced by a subcontractor, he recruited Gilroy Roberts, then Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, to join him in starting the General Numismatics Corporation. GNC became the Franklin Mint in 1965, shortly after going public. The Franklin Mint quickly expanded to produce not only coin-like medals and casino tokens, but other collectibles, including car models, luxury board-game editions, and porcelain dolls.
Segel retired as chairman of Franklin Mint Corporation in 1973.
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