- When he learned that all university students going to war (WW I) would be given full credit for any course they signed up for, he immediately signed up for all the subjects he was bad at.
- Named his publishing company "Random House" because he thought they would be printing "...a few books at random.".
- David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA when it owned NBC and Random House, urged Cerf to quit the CBS What's My Line? (1950) since it represented a conflict of interest. Cerf managed to change Sarnoff's mind, and continued to appear on the network show until its 1967 cancellation.
- Bennett was related to actress, dancer, and singer Ginger Rogers through marriage. Ginger was a first cousin to Bennett's wife, Phyllis Fraser.
- Volunteered for the U.S. Army in World War I.
- Honorary member of the Harvard Lampoon.
- When his mother died in 1914, he inherited $125,000.
- Learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor while he and his wife were playing bridge with Harry and Bernadine Scherman, the owners of the Book-of-the-Month Club.
- Once worked for a Wall Street brokerage.
- Graduated from Columbia University.
- Humorist and publisher, one of the founding editors of Random House Inc. He was later president of the New York-based publishing firm.
- He and his second wife. Phyllis Fraser, were married by New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
- In the 1950s and 1960s, he wrote a weekly column, 'The Cerf Board,' for 'This Week' magazine. 'This Week' was a color rotogravure magazine included in many local Sunday newspapers nationwide -- a forerunner of today's 'USA Today' magazine in Sunday papers.
- Cousin of Vint Cerf.
- Random House's colophon (trademark image) was designed by celebrated artist Rockwell Kent, who originally sketched it on a cocktail napkin.
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