found: New York times WWW site, June 4, 2007(in obituary published June 2: Mark Harris; b. Mark Harris Finkelstein, Nov. 19, 1922, Mount Vernon, N.Y.; d. Wednesday [May 30, 2007], Santa Barbara, Calif., aged 84; took readers on a literary journey through the life of a mythical baseball player in four well-received novels, including Bang the drum slowly, which became the basis of a 1973 movie)
found: Wikipedia, October 5, 2016(Mark Harris (November 19, 1922-May 30, 2007) was an American novelist, literary biographer, and educator; born Mark Harris Finkelstein in Mount Vernon, New York; after graduating in 1940 from Mount Vernon High School, he dropped his surname because "it was a difficult time for kids with Jewish names to get jobs"; died Santa Barbara, California; PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota in 1956; in September 1956, he was hired by the English department of San Francisco State College, where he taught until 1967. He went on to teach at several other universities, including Purdue (1967-1970), California Institute of the Arts (1970-1972), the University of Southern California (1973-1975), and the University of Pittsburgh (1976-1980). In September 1980, he joined the faculty of Arizona State, where he was a professor of English and taught in the creative writing program until his retirement in 2001)
