Samuel Agnew Schreiner Jr. (June 6, 1921 – January 14, 2018) was an American writer. Born in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, Schreiner graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 1942. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Office of Strategic Services as a

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adv ...

from 1942 to 1945. He served in the China-Burma-India theater and became a first lieutenant, receiving both a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and Presidential Unit Citation. Schreiner began his career as a reporter for the ''McKeesport Daily News'' and the ''

Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph The ''Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph'' was an evening daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1927 to 1960. Part of the Hearst newspaper chain, it competed with ''The Pittsburgh Press'' and the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' until bein ...

'' from 1946 to 1951. At ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

'' in New York he was a writer and assistant managing editor from 1951 to 1955. He then moved to ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his w ...

'' where he served as an editor from 1955 to 1974. In 1974 he devoted himself full-time to writing.

Personal life and death

Schreiner and his wife, Doris Ann (née Moon 1921-2012), married in 1945. They had two daughters. Schreiner died at his home in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...

on January 14, 2018. He was 96.

Books

* ''Thine Is the Glory'', novel (New York: Arbor House, 1975). ** Set in Pittsburgh, the work is a multi-generational saga set against the rise of an industrial city from the mid-19th century until World War II. The protagonist is Scott Shallenberger Stewart, who begins as a country boy and ends as a moneyed power player like

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in ...

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major ...

Andrew W. Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age o ...

, and others. * ''Pleasant Places'', novel (New York: Arbor House, 1976). * ''The Condensed World of the Reader's Digest'', nonfiction (Chicago: Stein Publishing, 1977). * ''Angelica'', novel (New York: Arbor House, 1977). * ''The Possessors and the Possessed'', novel (New York: Arbor House, 1980). * ''The Van Alens: First Family of a Nation's First City'', novel (New York: Arbor House, 1981). * ''A Place Called Princeton'', nonfiction (New York: Arbor House, 1984). * ''The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln'', nonfiction (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1987). * ''Cycles: Recurring Forces That Can Predict Changes in Your Health, Moods, Relationships, Financial Investments, the Wealth '', nonfiction (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990). * ''May Day! May Day!'', nonfiction (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990). * ''Code of Conduct'', (With Everett Alvarez), nonfiction (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990). * ''Henry Clay Frick'', biography (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995). * ''The Passionate Beechers: A Family Saga of Sanctity and Scandal that Changed America'', biography (New York: John Wiley, 2004). * ''The Concord Quartet: Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau and the Friendship That Freed the American Mind'', biography (New York: John Wiley, 2006).

References

Bibliography

* ''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2004. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000088332. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schreiner, Samuel A. 1921 births 2018 deaths Princeton University alumni Writers from Pittsburgh People from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania American cryptographers American male novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers United States Army personnel of World War II