Michael M. Thomas

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Michael Thomas
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
EducationYale University (BA)
Spouses
(m. 1956; div. 1960)
Wendell Adams
(m. 1960; div. 1978)
Barbara Siebel
(m. 1982; div. 2003)
Tamara Glenny
(m. 2011; died 2021)
Children6

Michael Mackenzie Thomas (April 18, 1936 – August 7, 2021)

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Manhattan on April 18, 1936.[7] His father, Joseph A. Thomas, worked as an investment banker and became the youngest partner of Lehman Brothers at 29 years old, in the same year of Thomas's birth.[8] His mother, Elinor (Bangs) Thomas, was a real estate broker whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower.[7] Thomas was raised on the Upper East Side and attended the Buckley School,[7] where he served as an editor of its literary magazine,[8] before graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy. He went on to study art history at Yale University, his father's alma mater.[8] After graduating in 1958, he taught at Yale for a year.[7]

Career

Thomas joined the

20th Century Fox and the Los Angeles Rams.[8] He became head of mergers and acquisitions in 1971,[7] but ultimately quit Lehman Brothers that same year after feeling "betrayed" by the firm.[8]

Thomas went on to work as a consultant, and began writing novels in 1980. His first book, Green Monday, was published that same year.

New York Times as "social climbers, stock market papermongers, real estate shills and assorted other virtuosos of hype and blather."[9] Charlotte Curtis described his early works in The New York Times as "extremely unkind to the rich and fashionable", adding that his magazine articles "are said to have indulged in gratuitously cruel people-bashing".[7] He consequently became an outcast among the city's high society.[7] Approximately 25 publishing houses rejected his eighth novel, Love & Money (2009), and it eventually took him over a decade to secure one.[10] His final novel, Fixers, was published in 2016.[7]

Personal life

Thomas married his first wife, Brooke Hayward, in 1956. She was the daughter of actress Margaret Sullavan and agent/producer Leland Hayward. The couple had two children: Jeffrey and William. He married his second wife, Wendell Adams, in 1960. Together, they had three children: Michael, Leslie, and Dorrit.[7] They separated in 1978,[8] and he subsequently married Barbara Siebel four years later. They had one child, Francis. His fourth and final marriage was to Tamara Glenny. They met online in 2003, got married eight years later, and remained married until his death.[7]

Thomas died on August 7, 2021, at a hospital in

Brooklyn, New York. He was 85, and suffered from complications of arthritis prior to his death, which was caused by a bacterial infection.[7]

Works

  • Fixers (2016)[7]
  • Love & Money (2009)[10]
  • Baker's Dozen (1996)
  • Black Money (1995)
  • Hanover Place (1990)[8]
  • The Ropespinner Conspiracy (1987)
  • Hard Money (1985)
  • Someone Else's Money (1982)[7]
  • Green Monday (1980)[7]

References

  1. ^ "MICHAEL THOMAS Obituary (1936–2021) New York Times". Legacy.com.
  2. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (June 27, 1994). "Books of The Times; A Financial Thriller With a Message". The New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  3. ^ "Michael M. Thomas". Observer. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  4. ^ THOMAS, MICHAEL M. "Cop on the Wall Street Beat | Esquire | DECEMBER 1986". Esquire | The Complete Archive.
  5. ^ "Michael M. Thomas". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  6. ^ "Michael M.Thomas Talks 'Fixers,' and Finance Films". Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Seelye, Katharine Q. (August 15, 2021). "Michael Thomas, Writer and Bête Noire of the Moneyed Class, Dies at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kurtz, Howard (January 23, 1990). "The Writers' Unmannerly Feud". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  9. ^ Curtis, Charlotte (June 11, 1985). "MUCKRAKER AT WORK". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  10. ^ a b Morgan, Spencer (June 23, 2009). "Michael Thomas Finds It Again". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.

Further reading

External links