Born: 1940 Ohio connection: Birth Newark Geoffrey Champion Ward, son of Frederick Champion and Duira Rachel (Baldinger) Ward, was born in 1940 in Newark, Ohio. He received a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1962. That same year, he was married to Diane Raines Keim, and they had two children, Nathan and Kelly. They were later divorced. …
Read More Ward, GeoffreyBorn: April 1, 1931Died: January 29, 2019 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Jan Boyer Wahl, son of Russell Rothenberger and Nina Marie (Boyer) Wahl, was born in 1931 in Columbus, Ohio. He began writing while living with his grandparents in northwest Ohio during the Depression. His first effort was an attempt to rewrite “Jack and the Beanstalk,” …
Read More Jan WahlBorn: July 11, 1930 Died: December 20, 2020 Ohio connection: Birth Delaware Ezra F. Vogel, born in Delaware, Ohio, was the son of Joseph H. and Edith (Nachman) Vogel. He received his B.A. at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1950 and his Ph.D. in sociology at Harvard in 1958. He was the Henry Ford II Professor of …
Read More Vogel, EzraBorn: December 8, 1894Died: November 2, 1961 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus James Grover Thurber was an author, cartoonist, journalist, and playwright known for his humor and wit. Born on December 8, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio, he was the son of Charles Leander Thurber and Mary Agnes (née Fisher) Thurber. After graduating from East High School in …
Read More James Grover ThurberBorn: 1955 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Debbie Taylor was born in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in a large family and was educated in Columbus Public Schools. She graduated from Ohio Dominican College with a two-year degree, earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University and eventually received her M.A from Cleveland State University. Her short …
Read More Taylor, Debbie A.Born: 1943 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Entered into the Guinness World Records 2000: Millennium Edition as author of the world’s top-selling children’s stories, Robert Laurence Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio. When he was nine years old, he began writing short stories, jokes, and comic books for his friends. He attended Ohio State University and …
Read More R.L. StineBorn: June 15, 1931Died: August 15, 1996 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus George Edwin Starbuck, son of George W. and Anna Margaret Polaski (born Starbuck) Beiswanger, was born June 15, 1931, in Columbus, Ohio. George Edwin’s surname was legally changed from Beiswanger to Starbuck after his parents’ divorce. Starbuck grew up in Illinois and California. At age 16, …
Read More George Edwin StarbuckBorn: 1960 Ohio connection: Resident Columbus Jeffrey Alan Smith was born in 1960 to William Earl and Barbara Smith in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. He grew up near Columbus. As a child, Smith read and was inspired by Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge, Peanuts, and adventure comics like Batman and Superman. Some of his favorite comics are George Herriman’s Krazy Kat and E.C. Segar’s Thimble …
Read More Jeff SmithBorn: 1954 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Michael Rosen was born in Columbus, Ohio, the eldest son of Marvin and Nona Rosen. His childhood home was in a new development situated amid a former pasture. It was there he explored construction sites and fields, collected cocoons, milkweed pods and chrysalises, gathered buckeyes, fed roadside horses, and fished. Rosen attended Kent State …
Read More Michael J. RosenBorn: 1954 Ohio connection: Resident Delaware Accomplished writer and professor, Robert M. Olmstead is the son of James Paul (a factory worker) and Adeline Olmstead. He was raised on a six generation dairy farm near Keene, New Hampshire not far from the banks of the Connecticut River. He has authored the novels America by Land, A Trail of Heart’s …
Read More Robert Olmstead