Presentation Date: April 22, 2018
Dennis Koller, Published Author and Military Historian edited by Ken Evans
Dennis was born and raised in San Francisco. His father was a career US Navy enlisted man who survived World War II including the devastating munitions ship explosion at Port Chicago, CA. After his military retirement in 1954, he later became manager of a moving and storage company in San Francisco. His mother was a housewife who had nine children. Born in 1944, Dennis was the second oldest.
After graduation from St. Ignatius High School in 1962, Dennis earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga, CA in 1966. After graduation, he taught English and Math and coached football at St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley.
From 1986-1999 while Associate Vice President for Development at St. Mary’s College, Dennis earned a Master of Business Administration there and went on to work in senior level collegiate administration in the California college and university system including Menlo College, John F. Kennedy University, and California Maritime Academy.
During the many years spent around truly gifted teachers, he started to feel the itch to write novels. In early 2013, he decided to scratch that itch and left the 9 to 5 world to become a full-time author.
Since his “retirement”, Dennis has published three mystery-thriller novels: The Oath, Kissed By The Snow, The Custer Conspiracy, and he is working on the fourth.
He is a member of the:
-- California Writers’ Club
-- Independent Book Publishers’ Association
-- Military Writers’ Society of America
-- Naval Order of the United States: Navy League
Dennis is on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Bethlehem Shipyard Museum of San Francisco. From 2009 to 2013, he was Executive Director of the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the WW II Liberty Ship and floating museum moored at San Francisco’s Pier 45.
His first marriage produced three boys; he now has seven grandchildren.
In 2012, Dennis married Sarah Liebenstein who is also his publisher, his Muse, and his best friend. The couple resides in Pleasant Hill.