[1] Terra, the grandson of lithographers who immigrated from Italy, was raised in Pennsylvania.

Through his undergraduate thesis research, he discovered a new ink vehicle, which allowed printing presses to run faster than ever before, leading to the creation of Life magazine, the first news-picture publication.

In 1940, Terra borrowed funds from a friend, John Lawson and founded a printing-chemical firm, Lawter Chemicals, one of the world largest producers of printing inks and chemicals.

[2] Terra was finance chairman of Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign and was rewarded by being named the United States' first and only Ambassador at Large for Cultural Affairs, serving in that post from July 1981 to January 1989.

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