Alex Haley

His first marriage to Nannie Branch in 1941 ended in divorce in 1964. The same year he married Juliette Collins and this union too ended in divorce in 1972. He tied the knot for the third time with Myra Lewis but the couple separated later on. He had three children, a son and two daughters.

He died of a heart attack on February 10, 1992, at the age of 70, in Seattle, U.S.

Alex Haley was born on August 11, 1921, in Ithaca, New York to Simon Haley and Bertha George. His father, a World War I veteran, was a graduate student in agriculture at Cornell University at the time of Alex’s birth and eventually became a professor. His mother worked as a teacher. Alex had two younger brothers and one sister.

After completing high school, he enrolled at Alcorn A&M College (Alcorn State University) in Mississippi when he was 15 years old. After spending a year there, he transferred to the Elizabeth City State College.

In spite of being an intelligent young man he was not much interested in academics and dropped out of college.

In 1939, Alex Haley enlisted with the United States Coast Guard as an 18 year old. This marked the beginning of a 20-year-long military career.

He started his career as a mess attendant and was soon promoted to the rank of petty officer third-class in the rating of steward. During his enlistment he realized his love for writing. He was a talented writer and his fellow soldiers, impressed by his skills paid him to write love-letters to their girlfriends on their behalf. He also started submitting short stories and articles to magazines.

After the World War II he was transferred to the field of journalism in the US Coast Guard and became a petty officer first class in the rating of journalist by 1949.

Eventually he was promoted to Chief Journalist of the Coast Guard, a grade he held till his retirement in 1959.

Post his retirement he embarked on a full-fledged literary career. He was asked by the ‘Playboy’ magazine to conduct an interview with the famous trumpeter Miles Davis. The interview, published in 1962 was a huge success and he went on to interview several other prominent figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Sammy Davis Jr., Quincy Jones and Malcolm X over the next few years.

Alex Haley is best remembered as the author of the seminal historical novel, ‘Roots: The Saga of an American Family’. The book not only made him a much acclaimed author in world literature, but also spurred an interest in genealogy among Americans of different ethnicities. The book spent months on The New York Times Best Seller List and has been published in 37 languages.