Bio:Kenneth F. Gantz

The Social Security death index lists four possible candidates for this author (assuming that he is dead): GANTZ, KENNETH (December 6, 1886 - December 1968) GANTZ, KENNETH (November 18, 1908 - March 1980) GANTZ, KENNETH (March 20 1919 - April 1974) GANTZ, KENNETH F (October 19, 1905 - August 22, 1996)

Most SF sites (SFE, fantascienza, isfdb until now) list the 1908-1980 individual. This is consistent with the claim by Jeffrey Fisher that he reported an incorrect date in his earlier research, which had spread through the SF world.

Most other sources, however, claim that this author is the 1905-1996 Kenneth Gantz. For example, WorldCat, OCLC 221411841, lists the author of "Not in Solitude" as "Gantz, Kenneth Franklin, 1905-", and this (of course) is then used in several library catalogs. Many sites (e.g. SFE and Ultimate SF list him as the author of several space related non-fiction publications from Air Force (see below), and that author is regularly listed as "1905-". This is true, for example, of The Smithsonian Insitute and Hathi Trust.

We thus conclude that the SF author Kenneth Gantz is the 1905-1996 individual from the Social Security death index. Those records indicate that his Social Security number was assigned in Alabama.

Other non-genre publications by this Kenneth Franklin Gantz include: The beginnings of Darwinian ethics: 1859-1871, Kenneth F. Gantz, University of Texas Studies in English, 1939 “The Atomic Present,” Air Force Magazine, March-April 1946, Maj. Kenneth Gantz The United States Air Force report on the ballistic missile: its technology, logistics, and strategy, edited by Kenneth F. Gantz, 1958 Man in space: the United States Air Force program for developing the spacecraft crew, edited by Kenneth F. Gantz, 1959 Nuclear flight; the United States Air Force programs for atomic jets, missiles, and rockets, Kenneth F. Gantz, 1960 

This publication list tells us that he almost certainly got an advanced degree about 1939, probably from the Univ. of Texas, and that he achieved the rank of at least Major in the U.S. Air Force.