Max Gunther was an Anglo-American journalist and writer, author of 26 books, including the finance best-seller The Zurich Axioms.

Born in England, Gunther migrated to the United States at age of 11 after his father, Franz Heinrich (Frank Henry) was transferred to the USA to be the manager of the New York branch of a leading Swiss bank, Schweizerischer Bankverein (Swiss Bank Corporation

Swiss Bank Corporation

Swiss Bank Corporation was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland...

 or SBC

Swiss Bank Corporation

Swiss Bank Corporation was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland...

). In 1998, this bank was merged with Union Bank of Switzerland

Union Bank of Switzerland

Union Bank of Switzerland was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland. The bank, which at the time was the second largest bank in Switzerland, merged with Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998, to become UBS to form what was then the largest bank in Europe and the second...

 to form UBS, the second largest wealth management entity in the world and the second largest bank in Europe. Gunther's The Zurich Axioms is largely based on his father's trading advice.

Gunther graduated from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1949 and served the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 from 1950 to 1951.

Worked at Business Week magazine from 1951 to 1955 and on the following two years he was the contributing editor from Time Magazine. He also contributed to Playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

, True

True (magazine)

True, also known as True, The Man's Magazine, was published by Fawcett Publications from 1937 until 1974. Known as True, A Man's Magazine in the 1930s, it was labeled True, #1 Man's Magazine in the 1960s. Petersen Publishing took over with the January 1975, issue...

, Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

, TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

, McCall's

McCall's

McCall's was a monthly American women's magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-format magazine called The Queen in 1873...

, and Saturday Evening Post.

He lived most of his adult live in Ridgefield, Connecticut

Ridgefield, Connecticut

Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S...

.

Selected Bibliography

• The Weekenders (1964)
• The Split-Level Trap (1964)
• Wall Street and Witchcraft (1971)
• The Very, Very Rich and How They Got That Way (1973)
• Instant Millionaires: The Secrets of Overnight Success (1973)
• Writing and Selling a Nonfiction Book (1973)
• Virility 8: A Celebration of the American Male (1975)
• The Luck Factor: Why Some People Are Luckier Than Others and How You Can Become One of Them (1977)
• How to Get Lucky: 13 Techniques for Discovering and Taking Advantage of Life's Good Breaks
• The Zurich Axioms (1985)
• D. B. Cooper
  D. B. Cooper
  D. B. Cooper is the name popularly used to refer to an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington on November 24, 1971. He extorted $200,000 in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate...
  
  : What Really Happened (1986)
• Doom Wind (1987)
• Confessions of a P.R. Man (1989)