May not be well known to the general public but Purdy’s writing influenced a number of writers and literary figures over the decades from Dorothy Parker and Gore Vidal to Jonathan Franzen. Won two Guggenheim Fellowships (1958 and 1962) and was nominated for the 1985 PEN/Faulkner Award. Grew up in Findlay and graduated from Findlay High in 1932.
(b. 1914 – d. 2009: novelist, poet, playwright)