S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: SCORTIA, Thomas Nicholas
Aged: 59
Born: August 29, 1926
Where: Alton, Illinois
Died: April 29, 1986
Where: La Verne, California
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Irene Baron
When: May 15, 1960 (div 1968)
Awarded: _ _ _
Thomas N. Scortia
"How terrible, he thought, to be trapped forever in this thing with two legs
and two arms and quivering gonads and peripheral functional parts..."
Attended Michigan State College (Michigan State University) in 1944; U.S. Army, 1944-46, during WWII; and Washington University, A.B., in 1949. Worked as a chemist. Holding several chemical jobs, Scortia ended up in Silicon Valley and Sunnyvale, working on solid state fuel for rockets when the aerospace industry slumped in 1970. Having been a writer since 1954, Scortia took a chance and entered several literary fields as a career.
Scortia enjoyed writing disaster novels, using his chemical training, and created The Glass Inferno which became the movie, Towering Inferno.
"...how terrible, how terrible, how terrible."
Photo courtesy of Pam Sargent & George Zebrowski.
PEN NAMES: Arthur R. Kurz, Gerald McDow, Scott Nichols.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
OBITUARY: L.A. Times & Chicago Tribune.
WWII DATA: Army SN 17134774, Thomas N. Scortia, res Madison county, Illinois. Enlisted Fort Sheridan, IL, on Oct 9, 1944. Pvt. Born 1926, Illinois. White. 4 years high school. Single.
