Roland I. Gammon (November 17, 1915 – April 8, 1981) was an American writer, publicist, and founder of World Authors, Ltd.

Early life

Roland Irvine Gammon was born on November 17, 1915, to Charles C. Gammon and Helen Fern (Irvine) Gammon in

Caribou, Maine Caribou is the second largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. Its population was 7,396 at the 2020 census. The city is a service center for the agricultural and tourism industries, and the location of a National Weather Servic ...

. Charles Gammon worked as a druggist in Caribou, but his ancestors had lived in Canada for multiple generations. Roland Gammon resided in Caribou until he entered

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

about 1933 and after graduation continued his studies at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Career in writing

By the time he joined the military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he listed his occupation as writer. He served with the United States Air Corps, and after the war became a reporter for

Time-Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...

. He married Jean Thompson in 1947 and was divorced in 1960. Jean was described as a "women's representative" for

Scandinavian Airlines System The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the Flag carrier, national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna Municipality, Solna, Sweden. Including ...

(SAS) and wrote travel brochures under the name "Sally Ann Simpson."

Religious writings

In 1954 he co-authored with

Henry James Forman Henry James Forman (February 17, 1879 – January 3, 1966) was an American editor and author. He was famous for his 1933 book '' Our Movie Made Children'', which was a summary of the Payne Fund Studies. The book has been described as an " alarmist ...

the book ''Truth Is One; The Story of the World's Great Living Religions in Pictures and Text''. In the 1960s and 1970s, Gammon devoted increasing amounts of time to writing, resulting in four more books on religion: ''All Believers Are Brothers'', ''Faith Is a Star'', ''A God For Modern Man''. and ''Nirvana Now'', ''Nirvana Now'' was seven years in preparation and was his final work.

New York City

In the 1950s, Gammon was part of a publicity team in mid-town

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, whose clients included

Joseph P. Kennedy Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the ambitious patri ...

and his son, Senator

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. Gammon was president of Editorial Communications Inc. He was also past president of the Fourth Universalist Church in New York City and dean of its all-faith chapel. Notable contacts in Gammon's life as a writer included

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

and

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German and French polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, ...

, the latter assisted by Gammon in preparing a statement of his philosophy just weeks before his death in 1965. Near the end of his life he founded World Authors Ltd.

Philosophy of life

Gammon was clearly religious and had worked out his philosophy of life, as quoted in a newspaper article announcing his death. :Because in my view, there is no separation in death, I feel that death is a part of life and that life continues as the divine adventure. . . In reality, life and death are one nd butdifferent aspects of harmony and happiness. Gammon reportedly collapsed and died on April 8, 1981, near his residence in Manhattan. He was 65.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gammon, Roland 1915 births 1981 deaths Colby College alumni People from Caribou, Maine Members of the Universalist Church of America 20th-century Christian universalists United States Army Air Forces soldiers Writers from Maine Writers from New York City