Who's Who's Who

who's who (hōōz'hōō'), Which persons are of standing or importance, [caps] A book of biographical records of contemporary persons of importance.

This dictionary definition refers to a fat (3,370 pages), red reference book which is indispensable to libraries, businessmen and working newsmen. Dozens of times a day in city rooms in the U.S., Who's Who in America (price: $20.80) is consulted by reporters for information. Who's Who has become such an American institution that the Federal Trade Commission has ruled it unfair trade practice for anyone except A. N. Marquis Co. to use the title without permission. Last week, as the biennial new edition was readied for sale, Who's Who's owner and editor Wheeler Sammons, 64, took formal steps to make the book an institution. Sammons, a Pickwickian-looking arbiter of fame who considers listing in his book to be roughly the American equivalent of making the Queen's Honors List, set up a nonprofit foundation with a board of trustees to protect Who's Who's integrity and put its profits into biographical research. Explained Editor Sammons: "I never want Who's Who to fall into irresponsible hands."

There has often been temptation to be irresponsible. Sammons and his staff have been threatened with lawsuits and physical violence, and have been offered everything from cash bribes and lavish gifts to orders for thousands of copies of the book, just for adding a name and biography. (One West Coast multimillionaire offered to buy $2,000 worth of books if Who's Who would just include a long list of his wife's French forebears.) But Editor Sammons has an iron-clad rule that "you cannot buy, bribe or flatter your way into Who's Who."

Biographees. Such a policy has made Who's Who a valuable piece of property. Sammons has been offered $1,000,000 for it. Founded in 1897 by Albert Nelson Marquis, a Cincinnati calendar and directory publisher, Who's Who was already firmly established when Sammons joined the firm in 1926. At that time Marquis was in his 70s. Five years later Sammons took over entirely, and made it a family affair (Founder Marquis became "editor emeritus." died in 1943). Editor Sammons' wife Dorothy. 66. is the obituary expert for the sister book, Who Was Who in America, a listing of the famous dead, while his son Wheeler Jr., 39, and daughter Betty, 31, are in the research department which decides who gets into Who's Who.

To select the 48,716 "biographees," the book's 15-man research staff considers some 250,000 names for every edition, drops about 5,000 and adds about 8,000 new names. Biographees come from two groups: 1) "arbitrary," e.g., top public officials, churchmen, high-ranking military men, heads of large universities, and, 2) "general reference interest," i.e., anyone who has done something that makes him noteworthy. To find names for the second group, the staff culls hundreds of newspapers, magazines, directors and membership lists of companies and organizations, even gets job descriptions from big corporations to make sure it is not overlooking an important executive buried under an unimportant title.