Thomas E. Gaddis

Thomas Eugene Gaddis (September 14, 1908 – October 10, 1984) was an author from the United States, most noted for his book about convicted murderer Robert Stroud, who was known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz." Gaddis was born in Denver, Colorado. He wrote many non-fiction books, mostly biographies. In addition to Birdman of Alcatraz (1955), he wrote Killer: A Journal of Murder (1970) about serial killer Carl Panzram.

Gaddis wrote Birdman of Alcatraz in 1955. The biography became one of the nation's better-known prison biographies. Birdman of Alcatraz was the story of Robert Stroud, the grandson of a federal judge, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement after stabbing a guard to death in Leavenworth Federal prison in Kansas. 

Stroud was serving time in Leavenworth as a consequence of a slaying he committed in Alaska. While in solitary in Leavenworth, Stroud became an expert on birds, writing Stroud's Digest of the Diseases of Birds in Leavenworth from 1939 to 1941. The 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz starred Burt Lancaster as Stroud.

Thomas Eugene Gaddis, whose 1955 book ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' became one of the nation's best-known prison biographies, died Wednesday in a Portland nursing home. He was 76 years old and was suffering from cancer. Mr. Gaddis, who was born in Denver, was an educator, prison consultant, and psychologist, as well as a writer. 

He was co-author with James Long of ''Killer: A Journal of Murder,'' a book about the life of a convicted Oregon serial killer, Carl Panzram. ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' was the story of Robert Stroud, a Federal judge's grandson who was sentenced to life in solitary confinement after stabbing a guard to death in Leavenworth Federal prison in Kansas. 

He was in prison for a slaying committed in Alaska. While in solitary, Mr. Stroud became an expert on birds, writing ''Stroud's Digest of the Diseases of Birds'' in Leavenworth from 1939 to 1941. In 1962, ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' was produced as a movie starring Burt Lancaster in the role of Mr. Stroud. In recent years, Mr. Gaddis worked as a court consultant and on various writing projects.