Lurlene McDaniel is an American author who has written more than 70 young adult books. She is well known for writing about young adults struggling with mortality and chronic illness, a career that began as a therapeutic way to deal with the trauma when her son, then 3, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Her characters have grappled with cancer, diabetes, organ failure, and the deaths of loved ones through disease or suicide. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida - Tampa and currently resides in Tennessee. 

April 5th, 1944 in Philadelphia (Age 80)