Up Front

UP FRONT

The Happiest Millionaire retires

David Edwards

I NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO RIDE WITH Malcolm S. Forbes. Multi-millionaire Forbes—a man who won the Bronze Star and Purple Heart while fighting in World War II, a world-record balloonist who survived several crack-ups, an avid motorcyclist who occasionally took tumbles—died of a heart attack while taking a nap at his New Jersey home. He was 70 years old.

“Listen,” Forbes once told an interviewer, “you're not dead until you are,” and the editor-in-chief and publisher of Forbes magazine led a life that exemplified that philosophy. Born wealthy in 1919, Forbes spent his life acquiring more wealth, eventually amassing a fortune estimated as high as $ 1.25 billion. But along the way, he took time out to have fun. There was the series of motor-yachts, ending with the $10 million Highlander V. There was the collection of bejeweled Fabergé eggs, once the baubles of Russian czars. There was the ranch in Colorado, the mansion in England, the chateau in France, the palace in Morocco and the island in Fiji. There were paintings by Van Gogh, Monet and Gauguin. There was the fleet of whimsically designed hot-air balloons. There were legions of toy soldiers and squadrons of model ships. There were the lavish parties. There was the friendship with Elizabeth Taylor.

And there were motorcycles.

Forbes owned about 80 bikes, having recently added a new BMW K1. a 1985 Harley-Davidson police bike and two custom Harley cruisers to his stable. He kept most of the machines at his Timberfield estate in New Jersey, but had others stashed throughout the world, including on the Highlander and in his private jet, a greenand-gold Boeing 727 he christened the Capitalist Tool.

Allan Girdler, a former editor of Cycle World, once rode with Forbes to the Arctic Circle (see “In the Land of the Midnight Run,” CW, December, 1980). “No one ever did a better job with the cards God dealt him,” Girdler says. “He started at the top and could easily have coasted through life, but by golly, he made his mark in several fields.”

Girdler remembers an incident in Norway. Forbes had fallen while braking to avoid a truck, and twisted both himself and his Harley FLT touring bike. The group tried to check into a swank hotel in the next town, but the management there, unaware that Forbes could have bought the place with his lunch money, wasn’t exactly throwing out the welcome mat for the gaggle of leatherclad, runny-nosed bikers. At about that time, youngsters from the local motorcycle club showed up to help.

“They didn’t know who Malcolm Forbes was, either, they’d just heard that an old guy on a Harley had been hurt,” says Girdler. Off the entourage went to a “clubhouse,” which turned out to be the storage room of a small beauty parlor. The humble surroundings didn’t faze Forbes.

“He was as happy as he could be, resting in that two-chair beauty shop while the Norwegian youngsters straightened out his bike,” recalls Girdler, citing that as an example of Forbes’ down-to-earth disposition. “He couldn’t have been a nicer man. And, he was never condescending to anybody.”

Paul Dean. Cycle Worlds editorial director, also rode with Forbes (see “Malcolm Forbes: The Life and Times of America's Motorcycling Ambassador to the World,” CW, May, 1987) and endorses Girdler’s opinion. “He was a real person, a real human being, not at all pretentious,” says Dean.

Dean accompanied Forbes on a “Toys for Tots” charity ride in Maine. The festivities included a cookout, at which the ever-smiling Forbes entertained the crowd of 3000 by giving rides in his balloon and helicopter, and by posing for photos whenever anyone raised an Instamatic. Then everyone mounted up and rode to the steps of the state capitol in Augusta where the toys were to be turned over to officials. During the presentation, the Capitalist Tool, following Forbes’ orders and no doubt stretching FAA regulations, screamed by in a low-level pass, saluting the crowd with a wing-wag, then banking around and repeating the procedure.

“He was a good guy to know,” says Dean. “And that would have been true even if he hadn't had a billion dollars.V

At the time of his death. Forbes was about to set off on another of his yearly balloon-and-bike “Friendship Tours,” this one to Brazil. Dave Stein, who for the past five years has been full-time caretaker of the Forbes motorcycle collection, says that “The Boss” looked forward to these attention-getting extravaganzas, but was just as content riding anonymously around town, which he usually did on one of his four Softail Springers.

“He rode just about every day, right through the winter. He liked the freedom, the sense of awareness, that riding a motorcycle brings. He always said that if you travel by car, you might as well just mail yourself someplace. For him, there was nothing like being on a bike.”

Forbes especially looked forward to the first warm days of each riding season when he could go on extended jaunts. “That first ride in the spring was always great,” says Stein. “You'd pull up next to him at a traffic light, and you could almost hear him giggling, he was enjoying himself so much. I don’t know if anyone could have enjoyed motorcycling more than he did.”

I never got a chance to ride with Malcolm S. Forbes. I wish that I had.