James Thurber

James Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1894. After attending The Ohio State University and moving to New York in 1925, Thurber became an editor at The New Yorker magazine in 1927. He first published his own work in the magazine in 1930, continuing to publish with the magazine even after he moved to Connecticut in 1936. Thurber became one of the most well-known and beloved humorists in America, known best for the short stories and cartoons that were published primarily in The New Yorker and subsequently collected in numerous books. He was also the author of a play that was later made into a movie starring Henry Fonda. Thurber was twice married, the first to Althea Adams was troubled almost from its beginning in 1922 and ended in divorce in 1935; the second, to Helen Wismer, lasted from its beginning in 1935 until his death. Thurber died in 1961 at the age of 65, after pneumonia set in following emergency surgery on a blood clot in his brain.