Eileen Wyman
(May 25, 1930 - Sept. 6, 2013)

Eileen (known to her friends as "Jo") studied Fine Arts for two years before transferring to Ohio State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Radio/Television. Her first love was comedy, and she spent her life learning the art and craft of it, filling file box after file box with her bon mots and wry, pithy descriptions. She raided this gold mine when she and Kay began writing their thrillers together.

Eileen crafted jokes for speech writers and comedians, humorous fillers for various magazines, and captions for cartoons. She could come up with a witty retort at the snap of a finger. She was a writer of short fiction. She edited many books and film scripts. She wrote additional dialogue for films. During her long career, she held a variety of jobs to make ends meet: television traffic clerk, classified ad-taker, third grade teacher, social worker, gal Friday for an independent filmmaker, and human resources administrator.

When Manhattan Plaza ("The Miracle on 42nd Street") became available to artists in June 1977, she moved in. At that time, the neighborhood (Hell's Kitchen) was very scary, and considered one of the worst areas in New York City for crime. It eventually proved to be the catalyst for Butcher of Dreams, a suspense/thriller about the theater, which she co-wrote with Kay Williams. The book has won several awards and was adapted by the two women into a screenplay.

Several years ago Eileen was diagnosed with COPD, which severely affected her mobility and stamina, but she never lost her quick wit and her compassion for others. She persevered with her writing and editing. She loved to collect cartoons (her standards were high) to distribute to friends and neighbors; she loved to find funny pictures to write her own captions on.

Before her death in 2013, she completed (with Kay) The Matryoshka Murders, a political/historical thriller that opens in Russia, with filmmakers competing at the 1991 Leningrad International Documentary Festival, against the chaotic backdrop of a disintegrating USSR.