Generoso Paul "Gene" Pope Jr. (1927–1988) was an American media mogul, best known for creating The National Enquirer as it is known today.
His father, Generoso Pope, was a New York political powerbroker and quarry magnate whose Italian-American newspaper interests included the Corriere d'America and the daily Il Progresso Italo-Americano.
He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned at age 19 a bachelor's degree in general engineering in 1946.
By the time of Pope's death, his GP Group, in addition to The National Enquirer, included Weekly World News and a magazine distributor, Distribution Services Inc.
After the birth of their son, Generoso Pope III, she fell into a deep postpartum depression and was ultimately diagnosed as schizophrenic.
Pope suffered a heart attack at the age of 61 at his Manalapan mansion and died en route to the hospital — in an ambulance that he had donated to the town.
His widow Lois remains a well-known South Florida philanthropist, specializing in medical research, humanitarian relief, and the performing arts.