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Martin Greif
(February 4, 1938 - November 17, 1996) U.S.A.

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Son of an immigrant Harlem grocery store owner, Martin Greif, (also mistakenlyspelled Grief) was educated at Hunter College, NYC, graduating in 1959 (B.A. cum laude) and Princeton University, graduating in 1961 (M.A. with honours), where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and groomed as an expert in Daniel Defoe.

After graduation he became a professor of English and taught in NY universities from 1963-73, including lecturing in biblical literature at New York University, before entering the world of publishing as managing editor of Time-Life Books (1969-73), and then as co-founder and editorial director of Main Street Press.

Greif was the author of the fabulous The Gay Book of Days: An Evocatively Illustrated Who's Who of Who Is, Was, May Have Been, Probably Was, and Almost Certainly Seems to Have Been Gay during the Past 5,000 Years (1982), which listed the birthdays of famous gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks along with pictures and witty info about them.

According to his nephew Eric, Martin was sceptical about astrology and didn't believe in "the stars," however he included a summary of the characteristics of each astrological Sign at the start of each monthly chapter in his Gay Book of Days and as such it can be read as a type of text on "gay astrology".

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