Ed McBain (1926 – 2005)

He wrote hundreds of books and many screenplays, both under his own name and under a number of pseudonyms such as Ed McBain, Richard Marsten, Hunt Collins, Curt Cannon and Ezra Hannon. The name "Evan Hunter" was derived from Evander Childs High School and Hunter College.

Under the name Evan Hunter, which he legally adopted in 1952, he wrote books such as Lizzie. He wrote the original screenplay of The Birds for Alfred Hitchcock.

As Ed McBain, one of his most famous pseudonyms, he wrote the famous 87th Precinct crime novels as well as the Matthew Hope mysteries.

Hunter died of cancer of the larynx at age 78 in Weston, Connecticut.