Personal assistant to Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes was known as an eccentric billionaire, and he actually had many personal assistants, aides and confidants working for him. We will cover just a couple of the most important of them here: Robert Maheu and Noah Dietrich. 

Chief Aide Noah Dietrich

Noah Dietrich was recruited by Howard Hughes into his empire with a starting salary of about $150,000 in today's money. His ending salary was close to $500,000 at the end of his 30-year tenure. Unfortunately, the taxes back then were crushing, and Dietrich paid about 90% of it to taxes. 

Noah was portrayed in several movies about Howard Hughes, but most notably in The Hoax (2006) and The Aviator (2004). Both of these movies showed different aspects of Howard's eccentricity and secrecy.  

VIDEO: The life of Howard Hughes

Confidant Robert Maheu

Robert Maheu was a businessman who had worked for the CIA & FBI. He worked in a different capacity as Dietrich, but not for as long or as close as Noah did. It's also been said that Maheu never met Howard Hughes face to face. The rumor is that there were many power struggles within the Hughes organization, which ultimately led to Maheu's dismissal in the end. As is usually the case when working with billionaires, there are many conspiracies and back-stabbers around you. 

Gordon Margulis & Mell Stewart

Honorable mention: Gordon Margulis and Mell Stewart worked for Howard Hughes are were accused of siphoning money from the recluse billionaire. The pair were a major source for the book Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, written by James Phelan in 1976. 

In a recent article written by Insider, it was said that Hughes had a small army of assistants who kept track of all his actress girlfriends around Los Angeles. 

---

Filed Under: Howard Hughes, personal assistant, aide, confidant, advisor, associate, personal attendant, right-hand man