Thomas Gallagher (1918 – December 19, 1992) was an American writer and seaman known for his writing on disasters and military heroism. He won a

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

in 1960 and was a

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

finalist in 1953.

Biography

Gallagher was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 1918. He graduated from Columbia College in 1941 and served in Iran during World War II with the Army Corps of Engineers and became a seaman in the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

, when he began to write. Gallagher's book ''Fire at Sea'' (1959), an investigation into the 1934 SS Morro Castle disaster, received an

for Best Fact Crime in 1960. His book ''The Gathering Darkness'' (1952), which traced a family whose life were upended after the

1929 Stock Market Crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

, was a

finalist in 1953. Gallagher died on December 19, 1992, in

References

1918 births 1992 deaths {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Thomas People from Manhattan Writers from Manhattan Columbia College (New York) alumni Edgar Award winners 20th-century American writers