
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003091901
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Short

FORBES GIVES RICH SURPRISE

Forbes Inc. employees received a message from the great beyond Thursday. They found out from their late publisher: All is forgiven - up to $10,000.

All debts, that is. Steve Forbes, Malcolm Forbes' son and successor, told staffers that "in accordance with my father's wishes" the corporation was giving them all an extra week's pay and forgiving all personal loans from the company up to $10,000.

"As Pop put it, `Like a lottery, it's pure chance as to who benefits,' " his son wrote in a letter to employees, referring to the loan amnesty.

"As for the extra pay," Forbes added, "his advice should be no surprise: Enjoy it!"

Don Garson, a Forbes Inc. spokesman, said the debt amnesty was particularly generous because Forbes employees of more than a year's experience are able to borrow money from the company at relatively low interest rates. He said that many of the corporation's 750 employees had taken such loans.

Asked about those thrifty souls who had not, Garson laughed and said, "I'm sure many of us here are saying, `Damn it, why didn't I borrow something?' "

Garson said the gift was in character for Forbes, who "always had the attitude that the employees were giving to him, rather than the other way around."

Estimates of Forbes' wealth ranged into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

by CNB