John Jerome

Who was John Jerome?

John Jerome was an American writer of nonfiction.

Jerome was born on November 7, 1932, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father was Ralph Jerome, a draftsman for oil-drilling companies, and his mother was Gwendolyn Jerome. He graduated from high school in New Braunfels, Texas. He held a B.A. from North Texas State College, received in 1955. In 1952, he married his first wife, Nancy Sellman. They had three children, Kathleen, Martin Stewart, and Julia.

After teaching in West Texas, Jerome went to work in 1959 as an editor for Sports Car Digest in Odessa, Texas. In 1962, he moved to New York City to serve as managing editor of Car and Driver magazine until 1964. After living in Detroit for a time, working as a copywriter, in 1965 he divorced his wife, and a year later married Christine McCall, a writer and editor.

In 1967 the Jeromes moved to New England. They lived in rural New Hampshire and then in rural western Massachusetts. Jerome freelanced as an editor and magazine writer, and wrote a dozen books, as well as the annual Complete Runner’s Day-by-Day Log and Calendar which he produced from 1986 through 2003.