Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater formed MLJ Magazines and started publishing in November 1939. The company name was derived from the initials of the partners' first names.
John Goldwater created the idea of Archie. However, John Goldwater was not an artist, so he went to the bullpen and asked the various artists to come up with a likeness. At age 21, Robert William Montana (Bob Montana) created the likeness of Archie and continued to draw Archie for 34 years, until his death on January 4, 1975.
As Archie’s popularity grew MLJ Magazines changed its name to Archie Comics Publications.    
In the early 1970’s, Archie Enterprises Inc. went public and just over ten years later Louis Silberkleit’s son Michael and John Goldwater’s son Richard took Archie Comic Publications private. John L. Goldwater served as Honorary Chairman, a post he held until he died of a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, February 26, 1999.
  Today, over 60 years since the founding of MLJ Magazines, Archie Comics Publications is a family business publishing wholesome family entertainment. Archie remains a major market force in the comic industry as a more than 15 million dollar a year company with only 23 full time employees and 30-40 freelance writers and artists, selling about 800,000 comic books a month.  The Archie Comics web site receives more than 18 million hits a month.