I am tardy in noting the passing of Matty Simmons, who got rich founding the Diners Club and richer/famous publishing the National Lampoon. The Diners Club was a big-deal credit card in its time but today, it seems to have quietly been absorbed by MasterCard and I don't know much more about it than that. The National Lampoon was a grand success story in its day, while it seems to have turned into a brand-name to be slapped on any old product.
Matty was a bright, fascinating gent and I had the pleasure (which it was) to dine with him on several occasions where no one put the meal on a Diners Club card, He was overflowing with great stories about overseeing the creation and rise of the magazine, and the success of the first few movies that boasted the NatLamp possessory credit. They were mostly stories about being The Grown-Up amidst creative folks who behaved like hyper-kinetic children and if even a third of them were true, Matty earned every million he made off those enterprises.
I can't say I knew him well but I always enjoyed his company…and National Lampoon was a helluva magazine when it was under the control of Matty Simmons.