Robert M. Coates(1897-1973)

American writer Robert Myron Coates was born in New Haven, CT, in 1897. His father was a master toolmaker and the family traveled extensively. as his profession was much in demand. Coates was educated at Yale University, graduating in 1916, and served in the US Navy during World War I. After his military service he worked writing for newspapers and then in the publications departments of several corporations, but soon tired of corporate life and moved to Europe. He returned to the US in 1926, marred sculptress Elsa Kirpal and settled in New York City. He made his living writing book reviews and feature stories for such newspapers as The New York Times and the Herald Tribune. He happened to be friends with novelist James Thurber, who got him a job at The New Yorker magazine. He worked in various capacities there, including as editor of its "Talk of the Town" section, book reviewer, art critic and contributor. He published his first novel, "The Eater of Darkness", in 1926 (he had previously had a few poems published in The New Republic in 1919).