Arthur Frommer
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the author of scores of travel books, including 30 consecutive editions of the book initially titled Europe on $5 a Day, and now published as Europe on $50 a Day. His most recent books include Arthur Frommer's Branson (1995) and The New World of Travel: Fifth Edition (1996). The Arthur Frommer travel series is the world's largest selling series of travel books.
In addition to guidebooks, his writings include hundreds of travel articles and columns appearing in magazines ranging from The Readers Digest to Consumers' Digest and New Choices. His weekly column on travel is syndicated nationwide by King Features, and appears on Sundays in major newspapers ranging from The New York Daily News to the Chicago Tribune to the Los Angeles Times.
His travels began in the mid 1950s, courtesy of Uncle Sam. A graduate of the Yale University Law School, where he was an editor of The Yale Law Journal, he entered the United States Army at the time of the Korean War, and served with U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany. There, he wrote a small guidebook for his fellow servicemen, The G.I.'s Guide to Traveling in Europe, and it was this book, revised for civilians, that later became (1956) Europe on $5 a Day.
Following his return to the U.S., he practiced law for six years in New York City as a litigation associate in the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, but devoted his off-hours to travel writing, expanding the $5 a Day line to include New York on $5, Mexico on $5 a Day, Hawaii on $5 a Day, Japan on $5 a Day, and The Caribbean on $10 a Day.
In 1961, Frommer formed a wholesale tour operator known initially as $5 a Day Tours, Inc., and later as Arthur Frommer International, Inc., and served as its chairman and president until 1981. It grew to be one of the nation's largest travel enterprises.
Today, Arthur Frommer confines his activities to travel journalism. He continues to write travel books, in addition to publishing Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine and the monthly Secret Bargains newsletter. He also presents a weekly, nationwide radio program on travel, appears as a travel commentator on numerous TV programs, writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column on travel, and writes frequently for other magazines as well.
Frommer lives in New York City, where he is married to Roberta Brodfeld, who is Associate Director of a large non profit agency treating autistic and other mentally disabled children. He has a daughter, Pauline, who is an actress and part time travel writer.
