(1922 - Apr 15, 2002)
Hugo-winning SF writer, fan, critic, editor, and co-founder of two of the most durable fannish organizations ever: N3F and SFWA. In his youth he published the fanzine Snide, he began publishing SF in 1941, and was a member of the Futurians which he described in detail in his memoir The Futurians.
For more about his early fannish career, see General Fan Organization and Futurian Houses, Vanguard, Nicknames, Quote-cards, and X Document.
He was the founding editor of the SFWA Bulletin. With James Blish and Judith Merril he also founded the Milford Science Fiction Writers’ Conference in 1956 (and directed it for its first twenty years), and in 1968 helped to found the Clarion SF Writers’ Workshop.
He may be most famous as one of the earliest — and most incisive — critics of SF with his columns collected in In Search of Wonder published by Advent.
He began his editing career in 1943 with Popular Publication, worked for a while for a literary agency, then returned to Popular Publications and assisted Ejler Jakobsson at Super Science Stories. He left Super Science Stories in 1950 to become editor of Worlds Beyond. He wrote for television, including Captain Video and His Video Rangers, and returned to professional editing with IF in 1958. He is credited with creating the original anthology with his influential Orbit series starting in 1966 and also began the Nebula Award Winners series from SFWA.
He has used the pseudonyms Donald Laverty (with James Blish), Ritter Conway, and Stuart Fleming.
His awards and honors include: Hugo for Best Book Reviewer in 1956; Pilgrim Award in 1975; Jupiter Award for Short Story in 1977; GoH, Noreascon Two in 1980; SFWA Grand Master, 1994; Retro Hugo for Best Short Story in 2001; Posthumous induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2003. The SFWA Grand Master Award is named after him.
GoH: Westercon 30, Minicon 21, Balticon 4
He was married twice (the second time to Helen Schlaz del Rey, a former wife of Lester del Rey) before he married author Kate Wilhelm in 1963.
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