But perhaps even more revealing about the man than his own artistic endeavors was his ever present willingness to help countless others who shared his enthusiasm and desire to communicate through the arts.

In the mid-1930s, shortly after leaving college to pursue both his own research and his burgeoning career as a name writer for the popular pulp fiction magazines of that day, he was back at universities such as Harvard and George Washington lecturing to students, many nearly his own age. He concentrated on offering practical advice about how to make the jump from literary courses to professional writing careers.

In 1935, at only twenty-four, he was elected president of the prestigious New York chapter of the American Fiction Guild, which included in its membership such influential authors as mystery/detective writer Raymond Chandler and Tarzan’s creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs.