John Leggett (–2015)

John Leggett was born in Manhattan, New York City on November 11, 1917. He graduated from Yale University in 1942. During World War II, he entered the Navy and served in the Pacific theater. He worked as a publicist and editor for Houghton Mifflin and later as an editor for Harper and Brothers. He toon meer wrote several novels during his lifetime including Wilder Stone, Who Took the Gold Away, and Gulliver House. He also wrote some non-fiction books including A Daring Young Man: A Biography of William Saroyan and Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies. In the late 1960s, he became a writer in residence at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and become its director in 1970. He retired in 1987. He died on January 25, 2015 at the age of 97. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder