David Franke
Originally posted October 29, 2020.
My friend and an on-and-off business associate for over four decades, David Franke passed away yesterday after suffering a massive heart attack.
I first met David Franke when he was editor of the excellent Silver and Gold Report, owned by one of my investment newsletter industry favorites, Dan Rosenthal.
Sometime around 1980, after David and Dan parted ways, David became an editor at Phillips Publishing in Maryland.
Shortly after his move, David suggested that I join him at Phillips to write a stand-alone gold report. The RCY Gold Report got off to an excellent start, which led to my eventually writing Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report under the Phillips banner until I retired from the newsletter business in the summer of 2017.
Along the way, David moved on to new adventures, as David was always a popular, respected professional in our industry. David also suggested we write a book on investing together. His agent friend would round up a great publisher for us.
David did just that, and in 1987 William Morrow and Company published “Richard C Youngs’s Financial Armadillo Strategy.”
As the decades advanced, David and I continued on our separate ways in the world of investing and business.
A few years ago, as our four websites expanded, Debbie and I decided we needed some editorial and writing help at our family investment counsel business, Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. ( Newport RI & Naples Florida).
David accepted our offer, and until his recent sad passing, has helped us in more ways than I can begin to explain. We all will miss David, his upbeat approach, and his fine and clear writing.
I personally will remember him fondly as a loyal friend and first-rate business associate.
Warm regards,
Dick Young
Pinehurst, North Carolina
About David Franke: David was one of the founders of the conservative movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starting his media career at Human Events and National Review (editorial assistant to William F. Buckley Jr.). His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and many other publications. His books have included Safe Places, The Torture Doctor, Richard C. Young’s Financial Armadillo Strategy (as co-author to Dick Young), and America’s Right Turn (with Richard A. Viguerie). He was Senior Editor of Silver & Gold Report in the 1980s, and served as the writer/editor of John Naisbitt’s Trend Letter in the 1990s. A native Texan, David now lives in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
