Wendayne Ackerman
(November 4, 1912 – March 5, 1990)
Wendayne Ackerman, born Mathilde (Malka) Wahrman in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, had been a nurse in London during WW II. She left England for Israel where she married, becoming Tilly Porjes, and had a son, Michael Porjes. In 1948, after a divorce, she moved to Los Angeles.
She loved fantasy, and met Forrest J Ackerman, in a Los Angeles department store where she worked as a clerk selling books. She attended the first Westercon.
For a time, she was known as Wendayne Mondelle, the name a creation of FJA’s, and called “Wendy.” She and Forry married in 1949. After nine years of marriage, she and FJA divorced — but, after a brief hiatus, remained friends and companions, reconciling and remarrying in 1972. She sometimes used Wendayne Wahrman as a penname.
In the 1960s, FJA acquired publication in the United States of the Perry Rodan SF series. Wendayne did most of the translation. She spoke German, French, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew. She had a degree in biology, taught science in high school, and acquired an M.A. in her 40s. She then taught German and French for 20 years at East Los Angeles Jr. College.
Ackerman said that when he first coined the term sci-fi, for which he is known today, she told him it would never catch on. After her death, FJA wrote a moving account of her life (collected in Mr. Monster), revealing among other things that she was Jewish, the reason she had been dismissed from Goethe University in the 1930s, where she was a pre-med student.
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1976 -- Rhocon I
- 1977 -- Fantasy Faire VII
| Person | 1912—1990 |
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