Editing Tom Clancy (section)

== Early life and education ==
Clancy was born on April 12, 1947, at [[MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center|Franklin Square Hospital]] in [[Baltimore]], Maryland,<ref name=altclancy>{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/alt.books.tom-clancy/9UActiqpPag |title=alt.books.tom-clancy |last=Clancy |first=Tom |date=October 31, 1997 |access-date=March 20, 2012}}</ref> and grew up in the [[Northwood, Baltimore|Northwood]] neighborhood in northeast Baltimore.<ref name=BaltimoreSun>{{cite web |last=Kaltenbach |first=Chris |title=Clancy invented 'techno-thriller,' reflected Cold War fears |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2013/10/02/clancy-invented-techno-thriller-reflected-cold-war-fears/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=October 3, 2013 |date=October 2, 2013 |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220626/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-10-02/entertainment/bs-md-clancy-appreciation-20131002_1_tom-clancy-cold-war-red-october |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=altclancy/><ref name=Biblio>{{cite web |title=Tom Clancy: Bibliography and list of works |url=http://www.biblio.com/clancy-tom/author/209 |publisher=Biblio.com |access-date=October 3, 2013}}</ref> The family was Irish-American.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/writer-tom-clancy-was-a-proud-irish-american-but-very-anti-ira-226280291-238256451 |title=Writer Tom Clancy was a proud Irish American but very anti-IRA |website=Irish Central |last=O'Dowd |first=Niall |date=October 3, 2013 |access-date=July 22, 2021 }}</ref> He was the second of three children to Thomas Leo Clancy (1918–1995), who worked for the [[United States Postal Service]], and Catherine Mary Clancy ([[birth name|née]] Langan; 1918–2001), who worked in a store's credit department.<ref name=Bloomberg>{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Laurence |title=Tom Clancy, Whose Novels Conjured Threats to U.S., Dies at 66 |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=October 2, 2013 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-02/tom-clancy-novelist-who-conjured-threats-to-u-s-dies-at-66.html |publisher=Bloomberg |access-date=October 3, 2013}}</ref><ref name=LATimes>{{cite web |last=Woo |first=Elaine |title=Tom Clancy dies at 66; insurance agent found his calling in spy thrillers |url=http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-tom-clancy-20131003,0,4399054,full.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004102704/http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-tom-clancy-20131003,0,4399054,full.story |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 4, 2013 |date=October 2, 2013}}</ref> He was a member of Troop 624 of the [[Boy Scouts of America]].<ref name="companion">{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Martin. H. |title=The Tom Clancy Companion |year=1992 |publisher=Berkley Books |isbn=9780425134078 |url=https://archive.org/details/tomclancycompani00clan}}</ref> Clancy's siblings are Patrick and Margaret.

Clancy's mother worked to send him to [[Loyola Blakefield|Loyola High School]] in [[Towson, Maryland]], a private [[Catholic]] secondary school taught by the [[Jesuit]] religious order ([[Society of Jesus]]). He graduated from Loyola High School in 1965.<ref name=altclancy/><ref name=Biblio /><ref name=Bloomberg /> He then attended the associated [[Loyola University Maryland|Loyola College]] (now Loyola University Maryland) in Baltimore. Clancy began his college career as a physics major. Due to poor grades, he later changed his concentration to English since, "...it was an easy major." Despite the academic change, he continued to be an indifferent student spending a majority of his time reading books on military and naval history instead of tending to his studies. Clancy graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in [[English Literature]] in 1969 receiving a 1.9/4.0 [[GPA]].<ref name=altclancy/><ref name=LATimes /> While at Loyola College, he was president of the chess club.<ref name=Bloomberg /> He joined the [[Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps]]; however, he was ineligible to serve due to his [[Myopia|myopia (nearsightedness)]], which required him to wear thick eyeglasses.<ref name="nytimes obit" /><ref name=Bloomberg />

After graduating, Clancy earned certifications in business and insurance and worked for an [[insurance company]] in [[Hartford, Connecticut]].<ref name=BaltimoreSunObituary>{{cite web |last=Rasmussen |first=Frederick N. |title=Tom Clancy, 'king of the techno-thriller' |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-tom-clancy-20131002,0,187535,full.story |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=October 4, 2013 |date=October 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220624/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-tom-clancy-20131002,0,187535,full.story |archive-date=October 4, 2013  }}</ref>

In 1973, Clancy joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency based in [[Owings, Maryland]], founded by his wife's grandfather.<ref name="nytimes obit" /><ref name=Bloomberg /><ref name=LATimes /><ref name=BaltimoreSunObituary /> In 1980, he purchased the insurance agency from his wife's grandmother and wrote novels in his spare time.<ref name=LATimes /><ref name=BaltimoreSun1998>{{cite web |last=Lippman |first=Laura |title=THE CLANCY COLD WAR |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1998/06/13/the-clancy-cold-war-like-his-best-novels-baltimore-author-tom-clancys-divorce-has-taken-an-amazing-twist-his-wife-is-battling-for-a-share-of-future-earnings-from-his-name-and-that-of-his-fictional-her/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=October 3, 2013 |date=June 13, 1998 |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220757/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-06-13/features/1998164085_1_clancy-jack-ryan-novel/2 |url-status=live }}</ref> While working at the insurance agency, he wrote his debut novel, ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1984).<ref name="nytimes obit"/>