Gerry Patnode

Gerald Patnode (Gerry) has led many lives which serve as a rich and fertile background for his transformation from academic and expert non-fiction work to a new passion for storytelling.

These lives range from the days as a toddler having free reign roaming his aunt Roxy’s bordello in upstate New York;( trust me there is a book there) to a stint in the Navy, and time as a sworn police officer, a serial entrepreneur, and college professor and dean. He has seen life as an adventure in fun, daring, chance and a great deal of good luck.

His writing career started in the early 1980’s as a freelancer who wrote for a variety of business magazines and newspapers in Baltimore. He has worked as a business advice columnist for the Baltimore Business Journal. As fate or luck would have it Gerry ventured into the political realm running unsuccessful campaigns for elective office but caught the eye of the political powers brokers within both political parties resulting in high level political appointments at the Federal, State and county levels. This exposure evolved into a weekly public affairs television program in Baltimore plus becoming a regular on-air political prognosticator and pollster for the NBC-TV affiliates WBAL in Baltimore. This experience led to a curiosity on the political process resulting in three non fiction books on political power and decision making.

His years as an academic saw the production of written works that included chapters in textbooks, published papers in Academic Journals and publishing case study stories.

Always fascinated by history and the untold or unknown stories around major events he has written a soon to be released, THE STIRLING DEFENSE, based on a true story in 1889 Baltimore about the Navassa Island riots and murder trials.