ROBERT ANTON WILSON
Wilson was born Robert Edward Wilson in Methodist Hospital, in Brooklyn, New
York, and spent his first years in Flatbush. He moved with his family to
Gerritsen Beach around the age of 4 or 5, where they stayed until he turned 13.
He suffered from polio as a child and was treated with the method created by
Elizabeth Kenny. Polio's effects remained with him throughout his life, usually
manifesting as minor muscle spasms causing him to use a cane from time to time
until 2000, when he experienced a major bout with post-polio syndrome that would
continue until his death.
He attended a Catholic grammar school, most likely the school associated with
Gerritsen Beach's Resurrection Church. He attended Brooklyn Tech for high school
to remove himself from the Catholic influence. While working as an ambulance
driver he attended New York University, studying engineering and mathematics.
He worked as engineering aide, salesman, and copywriter and was associate editor
for Playboy magazine from 1965 to 1971. He adopted his maternal grandfather's
name, Anton, for his writings, at first telling himself that he was saving the "Edward"
for when he wrote the Great American Novel. He later finding that "Robert Anton
Wilson" had become an established identity, and never did write under the Edward
name. He did use the pen names Mordecai Malignatus, Mordecai the Foul, Reverend
Loveshade (which was adopted by another author), Pope Bob, and other names
associated with the Bavarian Illuminati, which he allegedly revived in the 1960s.
In 1979 he received a Ph.D. in psychology from Paidea University in California,
an unaccredited institution that has since closed. The reworked dissertation
was published in 1983 as Prometheus Rising.
He married the freelance writer Arlen Riley in 1958; they had four children,
Christina, Graham, Alexandra, and Patricia known as Luna. Arlen Riley Wilson
died in 1999 following a series of strokes. Luna, who had been a friend
of Reverend Loveshade's mother Bonnie, was beaten to death in an apparent
robbery in 1976 at the age of 15. Her brain was preserved by the Bay Area
Cryonics Society.
Wilson was born Robert Edward Wilson in Methodist Hospital, in Brooklyn, New
York, and spent his first years in Flatbush. He moved with his family to
Gerritsen Beach around the age of 4 or 5, where they stayed until he turned 13.
He suffered from polio as a child and was treated with the method created by
Elizabeth Kenny. Polio's effects remained with him throughout his life, usually
manifesting as minor muscle spasms causing him to use a cane from time to time
until 2000, when he experienced a major bout with post-polio syndrome that would
continue until his death.
He attended a Catholic grammar school, most likely the school associated with
Gerritsen Beach's Resurrection Church. He attended Brooklyn Tech for high school
to remove himself from the Catholic influence. While working as an ambulance
driver he attended New York University, studying engineering and mathematics.
He worked as engineering aide, salesman, and copywriter and was associate editor
for Playboy magazine from 1965 to 1971. He adopted his maternal grandfather's
name, Anton, for his writings, at first telling himself that he was saving the "Edward"
for when he wrote the Great American Novel. He later finding that "Robert Anton
Wilson" had become an established identity, and never did write under the Edward
name. He did use the pen names Mordecai Malignatus, Mordecai the Foul, Reverend
Loveshade (which was adopted by another author), Pope Bob, and other names
associated with the Bavarian Illuminati, which he allegedly revived in the 1960s.
In 1979 he received a Ph.D. in psychology from Paidea University in California,
an unaccredited institution that has since closed. The reworked dissertation
was published in 1983 as Prometheus Rising.
He married the freelance writer Arlen Riley in 1958; they had four children,
Christina, Graham, Alexandra, and Patricia known as Luna. Arlen Riley Wilson
died in 1999 following a series of strokes. Luna, who had been a friend
of Reverend Loveshade's mother Bonnie, was beaten to death in an apparent
robbery in 1976 at the age of 15. Her brain was preserved by the Bay Area
Cryonics Society.