{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Roland I. Gammon | birth_date = November 17, 1915 | birth_place = Caribou, Maine | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|04|08|1915|11|17}} | occupation = writer<br> publicist<br>founder of World Authors, Ltd. | notable_works = * Truth Is One <br> * The Story of the World's Great Living Religions in Pictures and Text * All Believers Are Brothers * Faith Is a Star * A God For Modern Man * Nirvana Now | mother = Helen Fern | father = Charles C. Gammon }} '''Roland I. Gammon''' (November 17, 1915 – April 8, 1981) was an American writer, publicist, and founder of World Authors, Ltd.

== Early life == Roland Irvine Gammon was born on November 17, 1915, to Charles C. Gammon and Helen Fern (Irvine) Gammon in Caribou, Maine.<ref name="Birth record">{{cite web|title=Ancestry.com. Maine, Birth Records, 1621–1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=MaineBirthRe&h=148918&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=8939|publisher=Ancestry|accessdate=January 7, 2013}}</ref> Charles Gammon worked as a druggist in Caribou,<ref name=Portrait>{{cite news|title=Portrait in the 1800s|newspaper=Aroostook Republican and News|date=July 17, 1974}}</ref> but his ancestors had lived in Canada for multiple generations.<ref name=Tree>{{cite web|title=Johnson Jr. Family Tree|url=http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20747887/person/1061446051|publisher=Ancestry.com|accessdate=January 8, 2013}}</ref> Roland Gammon resided in Caribou until he entered Colby College about 1933<ref name="Oracle 1934">{{cite web|last=Ancestry.com|title=U.S. School Yearbooks [database on-line]. Provo, UT|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=Roland+Irvine&gsln=Gammon&msbdy=1915&msbpn__ftp=Maine&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=e53&cp=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=245448788&db=YearbooksIndex&indiv=1|accessdate=January 7, 2013}}</ref> and after graduation continued his studies at Oxford University.<ref name=obit /><ref name="Cont Authors" />

== Career in writing == By the time he joined the military during World War II he listed his occupation as writer.<ref name=enlistment>{{cite web|title=National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WWIIenlist&h=5234430&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=1960|accessdate=January 7, 2013}}</ref> He served with the United States Air Corps,<ref name=obit>{{cite news|title=Roland I. Gammons, 86, Lecturer and Author of Books on Religion|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/14/obituaries/roland-i-gammon-86-lecturer-and-author-of-books-on-religion.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 14, 1981}}</ref> and after the war became a reporter for Time-Life.<ref name=obit /> He married Jean Thompson in 1947 and was divorced in 1960.<ref name="Cont Authors">{{cite web|title=Roland I. Gammon|url=http://galenet.galegroup.com|work=Contemporary Authors|publisher=Gale Literary Dayabases|accessdate=January 30, 2013}}</ref> Jean was described as a "women's representative" for Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and wrote travel brochures under the name "Sally Ann Simpson."<ref name="Shopping 1956">{{cite news|title=Traveler Enjoys Shopping in Russia|url=http://www.genealogybank.com|accessdate=January 16, 2013|newspaper=Oregonian|date=September 5, 1956}}</ref>

== Religious writings == In 1954 he co-authored with Henry James Forman the book ''Truth Is One; The Story of the World's Great Living Religions in Pictures and Text''.<ref name=Truth>{{cite book|last=Forman|first=Henry James & Roland Gammon|title=Truth is One: the Story of the World's Great Living Religions in Pictures and Text|url=https://archive.org/details/truthisonestoryo00form|url-access=registration|year=1954|publisher=Harper & Bros.|location=New York}}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, Gammon devoted increasing amounts of time to writing, resulting in four more books on religion: ''All Believers Are Brothers'',<ref name=Believers>{{cite book|last=Gammon|first=Roland|title=All Believers are Brothers|url=https://archive.org/details/allbelieversareb00gamm|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=Doubleday|location=New York, NY}}</ref> ''Faith Is a Star'',<ref name=Faith>{{cite book|last=Gammon|first=Roland|title=Faith is a Star|year=1963|publisher=E. P. Dutton}}</ref> ''A God For Modern Man''.<ref name="A God">{{cite book|last=Gammon|first=Roland|title=A God For Modern Man|year=1968|publisher=Sayre Ross Co.|location=New York}}</ref> and ''Nirvana Now'',<ref name=Nirvana>{{cite book|last=Gammon|first=Roland|title=Nirvana Now|year=1980|publisher=World Authors|location=New York, NY}}</ref> ''Nirvana Now'' was seven years in preparation and was his final work.<ref name=Odyssey>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Margaret|title='Nirvana Now' Relates Spiritual Odyssey, Life of Caribou Native|newspaper=Bangor Daily News|date=December 22, 1980}}</ref>

== New York City == In the 1950s, Gammon was part of a publicity team in mid-town Manhattan, whose clients included Joseph P. Kennedy and his son, Senator John F. Kennedy. Gammon was president of Editorial Communications Inc.<ref name=obit /> He was also past president of the Fourth Universalist Church in New York City and dean of its all-faith chapel.<ref name=obit /> Notable contacts in Gammon's life as a writer included Walt Disney<ref name=Disney>{{cite web|title=Walt Disney Quotes|url=http://www.disneydreamer.com/walt/quotes2.htm|publisher=Disneydreamer.com|accessdate=January 10, 2013}}</ref> and Albert Schweitzer, the latter assisted by Gammon in preparing a statement of his philosophy just weeks before his death in 1965.<ref name=Schweitzer>{{cite web|last=Schweitzer|first=Albert|title=Schweitzer's Struggle to Find Life's Meaning|url=http://home.pcisys.net/~jnf/mdnstory.html|accessdate=January 7, 2013}}</ref> Near the end of his life he founded World Authors Ltd.<ref name=obit />

== Philosophy of life == Gammon was clearly religious and had worked out his philosophy of life, as quoted in a newspaper article announcing his death. :Because in my view, there is no separation in death, I feel that death is a part of life and that life continues as the divine adventure. . . In reality, life and death are one [and but] different aspects of harmony and happiness.<ref name=BDNobit />

Gammon reportedly collapsed and died on April 8, 1981, near his residence in Manhattan.<ref name=obit /> He was 65.<ref name=obit /><ref name=BDNobit>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Margaret|title=Author Roland Gammon Stressed Brotherhood|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19810410&id=ha9AAAAAIBAJ&pg=1141,3900136|accessdate=January 7, 2013|newspaper=Bangor Daily News|date=Apr 11–12, 1981}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gammon, Roland}} Category:1915 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Colby College alumni Category:People from Caribou, Maine Category:Members of the Universalist Church of America Category:20th-century Christian universalists Category:United States Army Air Forces soldiers Category:Writers from Maine Category:Writers from New York City