Sloan Wilson

"Ice Brothers" redirects here. For the Mario series enemy Ice Bro., see Hammer Bro..
Sloan Wilson
Born Sloan Wilson
(1920-05-08)8 May 1920
Norwalk, Connecticut, United States
Died 25 May 2003(2003-05-25) (aged 83)
Colonial Beach, Virginia, United States
Nationality American

Sloan Wilson (May 8, 1920 – May 25, 2003) was an American writer.

Reporter

Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Wilson graduated from Harvard University in 1942. He served in World War II as an officer of the United States Coast Guard, commanding a naval trawler for the Greenland Patrol and an army supply ship in the Pacific Ocean.

After the war, Wilson worked as a reporter for Time-Life. His first book, Voyage to Somewhere, was published during 1947 and was based on his wartime experiences. He also published stories in The New Yorker and worked as a professor at the State University of New York's University of Buffalo.

Novelist

Wilson published 15 books, including the bestsellers The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) and A Summer Place (1958), both of which were adapted into feature movies. A later novel, A Sense of Values, in which protagonist Nathan Bond is a disenchanted cartoonist involved with adultery and alcoholism, was not well received.[1] In Georgie Winthrop, a 45-year-old college vice president begins a relationship with the 17-year-old daughter of his childhood love.[2] The novel The Ice Brothers is loosely based on Wilson's experiences in Greenland while serving with the US Coast Guard. The memoir What Shall We Wear to This Party? recalls his experiences in the Coast Guard during World War II and the changes to his life after the bestseller Gray Flannel was published.[3]

Wilson was an advocate for integrating, funding and improving public schools. He became Assistant Director of the National Citizens Commission for Public Schools as well as Assistant Director of the 1955-56 White House Conference on Education.[4]

Personal

He suffered from alcoholism throughout his life, and Alzheimer's disease toward the end. In addition to novels and magazine articles, he funded himself during his later years by writing commissioned works such as biographies and yacht histories. He was living in Colonial Beach, Virginia at the time of his death.

Wilson was married twice. His first wife was Elise Pickhardt, whom he married in 1941, and his second was Betty Stephens, whom he married in 1962. He had four children. His daughter Lisa is a published author, and his son David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist. Another daughter, Rebecca, is a nurse.

Wilson's service as an officer in World War II is noted at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

In the 1970s Wilson and his wife and daughter lived at Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, Florida on a 54' cruiser, the Pretty Betty.[5]

Connection to Unabomber

A copy of one of Wilson's books, Ice Brothers, was used to conceal a bomb by terrorist Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber). Kaczynski sent a parcel to the Lake Forest, Illinois home of the President of United Airlines, Percy Wood. On June 10, 1980, Wood received the parcel in the mail; it contained a copy of Ice Brothers. When Wood opened the book, a bomb concealed inside exploded, injuring him severely.[6]

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Poetry

Nonfiction

References

  1. ↑ "The Disenchanted Forest". Time. 1960-11-21. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  2. ↑ "Grey Flannel Mortarboard". Time. 1963-01-18. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  3. ↑ "Self-Portrait in Gray". Time. 1976-07-12. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  4. ↑ "Obituaries: Sloan Wilson, Author of 'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'". The Independent (London). 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Sloan (December 1970). "A Trip to Bimini". Boating. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Following the Unabom trail". CNN. Retrieved 2007-10-19.

External links

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