Tom Fitzgerald led a Huckleberry Finn childhood on the St. Lawrence River before undertaking formal studies in physics, mathematics, law, industrial management, and English. He has served as a door-to-door salesman of home-study courses, a vocational counselor for adults and children with developmental disabilities, a stockbroker, the assistant to the president of a large health-care corporation, a lobbyist, a technical writer, and a corporate manager.

Tom served as a Navy UDT/SEAL during the Vietnam era, and has swum several long distances, including across the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Once also an avid runner, Tom ran the Boston Marathon three times before a fall on black ice abruptly ended a life-long addiction to endorphins. He and his wife of 44 years, a marriage and family therapist, have three grown sons and three grandsons. They live in New England.

He is the author of three works of fiction: Chocolate Charlie (Warner Books, 1974), A Matter of Scents (Pyramid Books, 1974) and Chocolate Charlie Comes Home (Warner Books, 1978), as well as several works of nonfiction.