Born: May 31, 1898 Died: December 24, 1993 Ohio connection: Birth Bowersville A staunch practitioner of positive thinking and prayer, Norman Vincent Peale utilized mass media to share with hundreds of people his message of faith and hope. A stirring, dynamic, and innovative speaker who increased church attendance at numerous congregations, Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio, …
Read More Peale, Norman VincentBorn: November 14, 1947Died: February 15, 2022 Ohio connection: Birth Toledo Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, journalist and satirist Patrick Jake “P.J.” O’Rourke was the son of Clifford and Delphine (née Loy) O’Rourke. After receiving his undergraduate degree in 1969 from Miami University of Ohio, O’Rourke earned an M.A. in English in 1970 from Johns …
Read More P. J. O’Rourke (Patrick Jake)Born: 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 OlmsteadBorn: September 20, 1899 Dead: August 9, 1980 Ohio connection: Birth Dover Elliott John Nugent was born in 1899 in Dover, Ohio. He was the son of playwright/producer/actor, John C. Nugent, and Grace Mary (Fertig) Nugent. At the age of four, he began a long career in film, theater, and television. He first appeared in vaudeville …
Read More Nugent, Elliott JohnBorn: August 20, 1833 Died: February 15, 1888 Ohio connection: Birth Toledo Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby was born David Ross Locke in 1833 in Vestal, New York. His family later moved to the village of Marathon, where he left school after completing grades 1-5. In 1845, at the age of twelve, David was hired by the Cortland …
Read More Nasby, Petroleum VesuviusBorn: 1941 Ohio connection: Resident Columbus Patrick B. Mullen was born in Beaumont, TX, the son of Borden Calvin Mullen and Lorraine Terry Mullen. He earned a B.A. from Lamar State College in 1964; an M.A. from North Texas State University in 1965; and received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas in 1968. Mullen began …
Read More Mullen, Patrick B.Born: 1960 Ohio connection: Birth Columbus Born in Newark, Ohio (the city that serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in many of his stories), Gary Braunbeck writes in a number of different genres, but principally horror. He is the author of more than 18 books; his fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, …
Read More Braunbeck, Gary A.Born: 1955 Ohio connection: Resident Youngstown Poet, publisher, educator, and writer Phillip Brady was born and raised in New York City. Brady received a B.A. from Bucknell University, M.A.’s from the University of Delaware and San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in English from SUNY Binghamton; he has been an Ohio resident since 1990. Brady …
Read More Philip BradyBorn: November 18, 1912Died: October 15, 1978 Ohio connection: Birth Elyria It was perhaps fate that an Elyria native, born in the same year as the tragic sinking of the Titanic, should devote his life to authoring books about life and death onboard ships. Dwight Boyer was born in Elyria, Ohio, on November 18,1912, and …
Read More Dwight BoyerBorn: September 17, 1922Died: August 31, 2010 Ohio connection: Birth Cleveland Vance Nye Bourjaily, the son of Monte Ferris Bourjaily (journalist) and Barbara Webb (writer), was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1922. His parents separated when he was eleven years old, and Bourjaily spent his childhood growing up in Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. In 1939, he …
Read More Vance Nye Bourjaily