John Robert McCrum, is an English writer and editor. The son of Michael William McCrum, Robert McCrum was educated at Sherborne School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania as a Thouron Scholar and he was then editorial director at Faber & Faber from 1979 to 1989. He writes regular reviews and is also co-author of The Story of English and P. G. Wodehouse: A Life. His novel Suspicion was published in 1997. He was formerly editor-in-chief at Faber & Faber from 1990 to 1996. He served as literary editor of The Observer for more than ten years. In May 2008 he was appointed Associate Editor of The Observer and was succeeded as literary editor by William Skidelsky. In 1995 McCrum suffered a massive stroke. The devastating experience and his recovery is chronicled in My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke. He had only been married to Sarah Lyall, an American journalist, for two months and the book includes diary entries made by his wife. He is a patron of the UK charity Different Strokes, who provide information and support for younger stroke survivors. 

July 7th, 1953 in United Kingdom (Age 71)