Charles August Steuber Heinle

Charles A.S. Heinle
Charles A.S. Heinle (1916–2012)
Born	Charles August Steuber Heinle (1916-12-25)December 25, 1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	July 23, 2012(2012-07-23) (aged 95) Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupations	Publishing executive, entrepreneur
Known for	Marketing and expansion of the Pimsleur Language Programs
Spouses	Ruth Leight (m. 1938; div.) Beverly D. Hoffman (m. 1973)
Children	6

Charles August Steuber Heinle (December 25, 1916 – July 23, 2012) was an American publishing executive and entrepreneur best known for his role in marketing and expanding the Pimsleur Language Programs, a self-study audio method for language learning.

Heinle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Charles J. Heinle, a pharmaceutical chemist and inventor, and Elisabeth (Steuber) Heinle, a nurse.^[1] He was the eldest of four siblings and grew up in the Crescentville section of Philadelphia. He displayed musical talent from a young age, playing piano, clarinet and organ, and receiving vocal training. He studied English at Temple University.^[2]

During World War II, Heinle enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served in Fukuoka, Japan, where he established and operated Armed Forces Radio Station WLKI.^[3]

Following the war, Heinle worked in the publishing industry, including positions at J. B. Lippincott & Co. (1947–1954) and the Chilton Book Company, where he helped create the company's Trade Department. In 1962, he founded the Center for Curriculum Development in Philadelphia.^[3]

In the 1960s, Heinle and his wife, Beverly, founded Heinle & Heinle Enterprises in Concord, Massachusetts.^[4] The company produced and distributed language-learning materials, most notably the Pimsleur Language Programs, which Heinle acquired and marketed after meeting linguist Paul Pimsleur in 1966.^[5] Under Heinle's leadership, the enterprise expanded its catalog for schools, libraries, and adult learners, eventually becoming a significant independent publisher of educational and language-teaching materials.^[4]

During the 1970s and 1980s, Heinle & Heinle expanded into academic publishing under the imprint Heinle & Heinle Publishers based in Boston. The company's success in foreign-language and linguistics textbooks led to its acquisition by Thomson Corporation as part of its education division, Thomson Learning, forming the basis of the brand known as Thomson Heinle.^[6] Thomson integrated Heinle's catalog into its global portfolio of English-language-teaching (ELT) and linguistics materials, distributed internationally under the Thomson Learning name.^[7]

In 2007, The Thomson Corporation divested its education division, which was renamed Cengage Learning.^[6] The Heinle imprint continued as Cengage Heinle, which remains Cengage's ELT brand, publishing textbooks, readers, and digital tools such as Heinle eTools.^[8]

While the textbook division became part of Cengage, Heinle retained ownership of the Pimsleur courses until 1997, when they were sold to Simon & Schuster and integrated into its Pimsleur Language Programs brand.^[4]

Heinle's most notable professional contribution came from his partnership with linguist Paul Pimsleur. In 1974,^[9] Pimsleur entrusted his audio-visual language materials to Heinle and his wife, Beverly D. Heinle, for marketing and distribution through the Center for Curriculum Development.^[10] The Heinles relocated to Concord, Massachusetts, where they established Heinle & Heinle Enterprises and expanded the Pimsleur catalog for schools, libraries, and adult learners.^[11]

In the 1980s, Heinle marketed the courses through a leased department at the Harvard Coop, described as the “Cassette Learning Centers.”^{[12] [13]}

Their efforts brought the audio-first learning method to a mass audience and laid the groundwork for its later acquisition by Simon & Schuster in 1997.^[14]

Heinle married Ruth Leight in 1938; the couple had four children: Dolores L. Beatty, Charles H. Heinle, John D. Heinle, and Raymond J. Heinle.^[3] On December 25, 1973, he married Beverly D. (Hoffman-Voigt) Heinle, with whom he had two children, Elisabeth Beryl Weir and Katherine Margaretta Perry.^[1] In Concord he was active in community life, serving as president of the Friends of the Concord Public Library and publishing a revised 1978 edition of Historic Concord: A Handbook of Its Story and Its Memorial with an Account of the Lexington Fight. He was known locally for walking his French Briard sheepdog through town.^[1]

Heinle died on July 23, 2012, at the Concord Health Care Center in Concord, Massachusetts, aged 95.^[15] He is remembered for helping commercialize and expand the Pimsleur language-learning programs, bridging academic research and mainstream educational publishing.

• Pimsleur Language Programs
• Language education in the United States
• Educational publishing

• Pimsleur Language Programs – About Us
• Dee Funeral Home Obituary
• Patch.com – Concord, MA Article