J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was an American writer who won acclaim early in life. He led a very private life for more than a halfcentury. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.

Jerome David Salinger was born in New York City, on New Years Day, 1919. His father, Sol Salinger, sold kosher cheese, and was from a Jewish family of Lithuanian descent, his father having been the rabbi for the Adath Jeshurun congregation in Louisville, Kentucky. Salingers mother, Marie , was born in Atlantic, Iowa, of Scottish, German, and Irish descent, but changed her name to Miriam and considered herself Jewish after marrying Salingers father. Salinger did not learn that his mother was not of Jewish ancestry until just after he celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah. His only sibling was his older sister Doris .

Source: Wikipedia