Thomas S. Healey

Thomas S. Healey wrote his first poem at the age of ten. He was so thrilled with it – it rhymed! – that he decided to become a writer. He also decided to be a dancer once he saw a ballet program in New York. A dual ambition that writing won out on, although he took professional level jazz dance classes for thirty-five years in New York and later in Arizona.

Healey became a speechwriter for presidents of top corporations such as Exxon and Texaco; a newspaper political reporter and editor; writer of corporate publications; and a poet whose work appeared in three anthologies, the first in college, and later, an amateur actor and script writer. Healey’s first book, the acclaimed THE TWO DEATHS OF GEORGE WALLACE chronicled the attempted assassination of the former Alabama governor and presidential hopeful.

DANCER: A LOVE STORY is Healey’s debut novel. Asked what research he had to do for the various topics in the book, he replied, “Keep your eyes open for eighty-six years, dance a lot, then have fun with it.”

The New Jersey native and his wife Mia, a watercolor artist, divide their time between homes in northwest New Jersey and Arizona. Their son, Michael, his wife Melissa and grandchildren Grace and Patrick, reside in New Jersey.