Born in Utah, John Dennis Fitzgerald was the son of an Irish Catholic father and a Scandinavian Mormon mother. In 1925, at the age of eighteen, he left Utah, working at a variety of jobs, including at a bank and steel company, and playing in a jazz band.
John D. Fitzgerald is best known for his series of books about "The Great Brain". Though he himself was not born until 1906, these episodic tales set in Utah in the late 1890s were loosely based on family members and events from his own childhood. In these books, as in the fictionalized story of his family, it is apparent that he uses his own memories as a vehicle for conveying a message as well as a platform for lively, often humorous storytelling.
John D. Fitzgerald passed away in 1988 after spending many years as a journalist, musician, and freelance writer.
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