Coit, Margaret L. (1919–2003)

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Coit, Margaret L. (1919–2003)

American biographer and journalist. Name variations: Margaret Coit Elwell. Born 1919 in Norwich, Connecticut; grew up in North Carolina; died March 15, 2003, in Amesbury, Massachusetts; attended University of North Carolina; m. Albert E. Elwell (politician, died 1992).

Won Pulitzer Prize for her biography John C. Calhoun: American Portrait (1951); worked as a freelance reporter for Boston Globe and Lawrence Eagle, among others; published 7 more historical books, including Mr. Baruch, Andrew Jackson and Sweep Westward, 1829–1849; for over 30 years, was a professor of English, history, and political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

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