James Brendan Patterson is a famous American author and a well-known philanthropist. Patterson is known for creating several best-selling fiction and non-fiction novels and characters such as ‘Alex Cross’, Women’s Murder Club’, ‘Michael Bennet’, ‘Daniel X’, ‘Maximum Ride’, Witch and Wizard’, ‘NYPD Red’ as well as the ‘Private’ series. A best-selling author of the current era, Patterson has sold over 300 Million copies of his works world-wide and 1 million e-books. He holds the Guinness World record of being the New York Times Best-selling author a record 141 times.
Patterson has been felicitated with several literary awards including the Edgar Award, the International Thriller of the Year Award etc. He was felicitated with the Literarian Award by the National Book Foundation in 2015. Patterson is known for his generous endeavours to promote reading including donating books to universities, libraries and school and college children in addition to setting up initiatives like ReadKiddoRead.com and the James Patterson PageTurner Award.
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Early Life and Education
Patterson was born on 22 March 1947 in the city of Newburgh, New York State, USA as the only child of his parents. He was raised as a Roman Catholic in the city of his birth by his mother, home-maker and teacher Isabelle Morris and father, insurance broker Charles Patterson.
Patterson completed his elementary and high school education and later enrolled into Manhattan College, Bronx, New York from where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. He then attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and earned a Master of Arts degree in English, graduating summa cum laude. Patterson then continued as a Ph.D candidate at Vanderbilt but dropped out after he acquired an advertising job, coupled with the fact that he wouldn’t get enough time to pursue his writing if he built a career in teaching.
Career Rise
Patterson introduced his most famous character, forensic psychologist, formerly working with the FBI and Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police ‘Alex Cross’ in his 1976 novel ‘The Thomas Berryman Number’ which was also the first novel he published. The ‘Alex Cross’ character was developed over several years and became the most-selling detective series in USA. Since 1967, Patterson has penned 147 novels of which 114 became New York Time bestsellers making Patterson the topmost New York Time Bestselling author, for which he holds the Guinness World Record, out-selling authors like John Grisham, Dan Brown and Stephen King combined. Patterson has sold over 305 million copies of his books world-wide.
Patterson has also made television appearances as himself on shows like ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Castle’. He has collaborated with authors like Candice Fox, Mark Sullivan, Andrew Gross. Ashwin Sanghi, Michael Ledwidge etc. As part of his philanthropic endeavours and to encourage children to read more, Patterson established the James Patterson PageTurner Awards to find newer, exciting book reading initiatives. he also began the ReadKiddoRead.com initiative to help parents and teachers find good books for children to read. Furthermore, he started the James Patterson Teacher Education Scholarship that provides scholarship to several students in many US universities. Patterson is set to co-author a book with former U.S. President Bill Clinton which will be a crime-fiction novel titled ‘The President is missing’. Some of Patterson’s most prominent works include ‘Child of Darkness, Child of Light’, ‘Kiss the Girls’, ‘Along Came a Spider’, ‘Women’s Murder Club’, ‘Alex Cross’, ‘Zoo’ and ‘Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life’.
Personal Life
Patterson met his eventual wife, Susan Patterson while the duo were employees at J. Walter Thompson. The couple dated for a few years and eventually tied the knot in 1997. Together they have one child, a son named Jack Patterson, born in 1998. Patterson’s wife is also known for her contribution towards the creative arts and is an artist and photographer.
As a philanthropist, Patterson has donated over one million books, mostly to the under-resourced educational institutions and youth programs across USA. He is regarded as a crusader for helping youngsters become passionate readers for which he was felicitated with a Literarian Award for Outstanding Service rendered to the Literary Community in America by the National Book Foundation in 2015.
Home
The Pattersons reside in a large estate overlooking the ocean in the posh Palm Beach neighbourhood in Florida. Their mansion is built on a site which is regarded as a historic landmark, that was difficult the maintain. While Patterson has revived several elements for the property to retain its landmark status, he has made a few changes to give it the feel of a private home where the family resides.
The mansion is set on an estate of 1,500 square-feet on the glistening Palm Beach shore to fit the Patterson’s family of three. Patterson has retained the original Cuban tile flooring with two storeys featuring formal grand entrance, a lower foyer, an Escher-like stairwell that leads to the first floor which has the family’s living room, kitchen, dining room, media room and parlour. The second floor is dedicated to Patterson’s office, sitting rooms and bedrooms. There is also a guest-house of 10,000 square feet which is turned into a guesthouse to adjoin the main house.
James Patterson – Net Worth
Patterson has an estimated net worth of approximately $570 Million.
