Fern Michaels

Mary Ruth Kuczkir (née Koval; April 9, 1933 – November 12, 2025), known by the pen name Fern Michaels, was an American writer of romance and thriller novels. Her books include Family Blessings, Pretty Woman, and Crown Jewel, as well as the Texas quartet and the Captive series. She wrote over 200 books and sold an estimated 150 million copies, with more than 150 New York Times and USA Today best sellers.

Mary Ruth Koval was born in Hastings, Pennsylvania, on April 9, 1933. She married Michael Kuczkir in 1952, moved to Edison, New Jersey, and had five children. When the youngest entered school in 1973, her husband told her to get a job. Since she was unsure of how to get a job, she decided to try writing a book. Her husband was not very supportive of her efforts, and consequently, they separated.

Kuczkir originally wrote with a co-author, Roberta Anderson, under the joint pseudonym, Fern Michaels. Their first novel, Pride & Passion, was published in 1975. By 1978, they had signed a three-year contract with Ballantine Books, and their third novel, Captive Passions, had over 500,000 copies in circulation. In 1989, Kuczkir became the sole author under the Fern Michaels pen name.

Michaels has been quoted as saying that she loves breathing life into her characters. She has said she loves writing books about women who prevail under difficult circumstances, which she feels reflect her struggle for success early in her career. For her efforts, she has been inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame.^{[citation needed]}

When she was a girl, Michaels's grandmother told her "when God is good to you, you have to give back". With this in mind, she founded the Fern Michaels Foundation, which grants four year scholarships for deserving students. In addition to that, she has also helped establish pre-school and day care programs with affordable rates for single mothers.

Michaels lived in Summerville, South Carolina, in a 300-year-old plantation house listed in the Historic Registry. She claimed to share the house with a ghost named Mary Margaret (which had also been documented by the previous owners). Mary Margaret was said to leave messages on her computer.

Michaels died on November 12, 2025, at the age of 92.