William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman and pioneering media mogul who founded and built CBS into a dominant, vast broadcasting empire. Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish immigrant parents from Ukraine, he earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School in 1922. After working in the family cigar business and innovating in radio advertising, he acquired controlling interest in the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1928 at age 27. As president (1928–1946) and later chairman (until 1983), he transformed CBS, pioneering entertainment programming, news coverage, and television expansion post-World War II. Beyond business, Paley was a prominent art collector, cultural trustee, and presidential advisor. He married twice: first to Dorothy Hart Hearst (1932) and later to socialite Barbara 'Babe' Cushing Mortimer (1947). His tenure included controversies over corporate influence and labor disputes, but his visionary leadership solidified CBS's legacy. He retired in 1983 and died in New York City in 1990.