Editing Ben Bova (section)

==Personal life and education==
Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932, in [[Philadelphia]]. He graduated from [[South Philadelphia High School]] in 1949. In 1953, while attending [[Temple University]] in Philadelphia, he married Rosa Cucinotta; they had a son and a daughter. The couple divorced in 1974. That year he married Barbara Berson Rose.<ref name="St. James">{{cite book| title = St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers | editor = Jay P. Pederson| publisher = [[St. James Press]]| date = December 1, 1995| edition = 4th
|isbn = 978-1-55862-179-4}}</ref> Barbara Bova died on September 23, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/09/barbara-bova-dies.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191020/http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/09/barbara-bova-dies.html|url-status=dead|title=Locus sf&f news: ''Barbara Bova Dies''|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref> Bova dedicated his 2011 novel ''Power Play'' to Barbara. In March 2013, he announced on his website that he had remarried, to Rashida Loya.<ref name="Ben"/>

Bova was an [[atheist]] and was critical of what he saw as the unquestioning nature of [[religion]].<ref name="FFRF">{{cite web | url=http://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14639-ben-bova | title=Ben Bova | publisher=[[Freedom From Religion Foundation]] | work=FFRF Website | access-date=April 3, 2014 | author=Gutsch, Bonnie| date=November 8, 1980 }}</ref> He wrote an [[op-ed]] piece in 2012, in which he argued that atheists can be just as moral as religious believers.<ref name="atheists">{{cite web | url=https://archive.naplesnews.com/columnists/opinion/ben-bova-history-says-atheists-just-as-moral-as-believers-ep-388278393-342462321.html?print=1 | title=Ben Bova: History says atheists just as moral as believers | publisher=Scripps Newspaper Group | work=naplesnews.com | date=July 22, 2012 | access-date=April 3, 2014 | author=Bova, Ben}}</ref>

He went back to school in the 1980s, earning a Master of Arts degree in communications in 1987 from the [[University at Albany, SUNY|State University of New York at Albany]] and a [[Doctor of Education]] degree from [[California Coast University]] in 1996.<ref name="Ben" />

Bova died from [[COVID-19]] related pneumonia and a stroke on November 29, 2020, at the age of 88.<ref name=SWFAmemoriam>[https://www.sfwa.org/2020/11/30/in-memoriam-ben-bova/ In Memoriam: Ben Bova], at [[Science Fiction Writers of America]]; published November 30, 2020; retrieved November 30, 2020</ref>