Tom Clancy, the renowned author, was born on April 12, 1947, in Baltimore to a U.S. Post Office employee and his wife. He graduated from Loyola Blakefield, a Catholic private high school, in 1965, and later attended Loyola College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English literature.
After graduating, Clancy went into the insurance business due to his poor eyesight, which prevented him from serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Despite not being able to serve, military and Cold War politics remained close to his heart.
In 1984, while running his own insurance agency in Maryland, Clancy wrote his first novel, "The Hunt for Red October", which was published by the Naval Institute Press. The book received a sum of $5,000, an unusual payment for a work of fiction, but it struck a nerve during the latter stages of the Cold War. The hardcover sold 45,000 copies, and the paperback, boosted by a recommendation from President Ronald Reagan, sold two million copies.
Clancy's book was praised for its detailed and savvy portrayal of military and Cold War politics. His editor at the Naval Institute Press even had him eliminate some details, trimming the novel by 100 pages. Throughout his career, Clancy wrote 28 books, mostly fiction, but also non-fiction, and placed 17 books on the New York Times Best Seller List, with many hitting #1.
His impressive oeuvre accounted for sales of 100 million copies, making him one of the all-time most popular writers in history. Clancy also became a media industry unto himself, lending his name and ideas to video games and establishing his own video game company, Red Storm Entertainment, which was bought out for $45 million in 2000. Clancy-branded video games sold 76 million units, and movies adapted from his works earned $786.5 million at the box office.
Tom Clancy passed away on October 1, 2013, at the age of 66, due to heart failure.
