Max Soliven

Maximo Villaflor Soliven (September 4, 1929 – November 24, 2006) was a Filipino journalist and newspaper publisher.

In a career spanning six decades, he founded the Philippine Star and served as its publisher until his death.

Soliven was born on September 4, 1929, at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila, Philippines.

His father Benito, who died from aftereffects of the Bataan Death March and imprisonment in Capas, Tarlac during World War II, was elected to serve in the pre-war National Assembly.

Soliven spent his undergraduate years at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the OZANAM award for writing.

Soliven received a Master of Arts from Fordham University and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced and International Studies.

Soliven was proficient in Spanish, as it was one of the languages used by his Ilocano grandparents.

Max was the eldest of ten children.

His brothers and sisters were Guillermo, Regulo, Manuel, Mercedes, Teresa, Augusta, Victorio, Ethelinda, Benito.

Victorio Villaflor Soliven (b. November 26, 1938- d.November 13, 2010, the husband of Purita Ramirez Soliven b. November 20, 1942-d.June 12, 2022) are the owners of VV Soliven Group of Companies, including VV Soliven Towers located near the Santolan–Annapolis station along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

His youngest sister, Ethel Soliven Timbol, is also a journalist.

In June 1945, classes in Ateneo were resumed for third and fourth year high school students only in Plaza Guipit.

Guild 47 would be the first class to graduate from the Padre Faura campus, which reopened after World War II for the 1946–47 school year.

Max was accepted in third year and became part of Ateneo's Guild 47 or High School Class 1947.

His classmates included Cesar Concio, Ramon Pedrosa, Luis Lorenzo, Jose Tuazon, Jesus Ayala, Onofre Pagsanhan, Johnny Araneta, Ramon Hontiveros, Florentino Gonzales, Hector Quesada, and Ricardo Lopa.

Max received all his schooling, from elementary to college, in the Ateneo de Manila University (GS' 1953, HS' 1957).

He also went on to receive a master's degree from Fordham, a Jesuit school in New York City.

While Ateneo was closed for rebuilding after the war, Max was sent to Japanese vocational school in Escolta where he learned Japanese, typing, and stenography.

He was then sent to Paco Parochial School.

They married in 1957 at the St. Anthony's Church in Singalong, Manila.

Throughout their marriage, Max called Precious "Ifu" and "my Precious Silver," a play on her name.

She was a writer and Lifestyle Editor of the Manila Bulletin from 1964, retiring in 2007.

Max was asthmatic as a child, inspiring an early nickname from his siblings as "the guy who never sleeps, but talks at night."

At the age of seven, Max was reciting poems and delivering speeches as he imitated his father.

He wrote poetry at the age of thirteen and continued until he was twenty-one.

When his father died at the age of 44, Max helped his mother, who was 30 years old at the time, support the family.

At the age of 12, Max served as the role model and assumed the role of father figure to his younger siblings.

He worked for the Jesuits as a messenger and errand boy using a second-hand bicycle he had saved up for.

He also sold cigarettes and shined shoes in helping his mother support his nine siblings.

While working these odd jobs, Max won academic medals as a scholar at the Ateneo de Manila University.

While studying in New York City for university, Max got engaged to an American woman.

One week before the wedding, the woman asked Max to consider her wish to live in the US.

Max said, "No ifs or buts; my life is in the Philippines. I must serve my own country and that is where I need to be."

When she did not agree to the decision, Max cancelled the wedding.

When he was 28, Max married Preciosa Silverio, who he had met when she was 16 years old.

Preciosa's mother was daughter of Manila police captain Manuel Quiogue.

She was 19 when Max proposed to her.

In 1966, Preciosa founded the Operation Brotherhood Montessori Center.

Soliven spoke English as a first language, like most children of the pre-war Filipino middle class.

He also spoke Latin, Spanish, and Ilocano.