Alvin Toffler was born in New York on October 4, 1928. He received a degree in English from New York University in 1950. While in college he helped register black voters in North Carolina. After graduating, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Heidi and took a production job in a factory. He learned to weld and repair machinery. In 1954, he became a reporter for Industry and Welding. He went on to become a reporter for Labor's Daily and then as a labor editor and columnist for Fortune magazine. He left Fortune in 1962 and began a freelance-writing career covering politics, technology, and social science for scholarly journals and writing long interviews for Playboy magazine. He wrote 13 books during his lifetime including Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Powershift. He received a career achievement award in 2005 from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. In 1996, he and his wife formed Toffler Associates, a global forecasting and consulting company. He died on June 27, 2016 at the age of 87.
Heidi Toffler was born Adelaide Elizabeth Farrell on August 1, 1929. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Long Island University. She married Alvin Toffler on April 29, 1950. She worked as a researcher and editor for her husband's articles and books. She had an anonymous collaborative role creating Alvin Toffler's books Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Power Shift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. She was credited as the co-author of War and Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave, and Revolutionary Wealth: How It Will Be Created and How It Will Change Our Lives. In 1996, the Tofflers and Tom Johnson formed Toffler Associates, a global forecasting and consulting company. She received the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic for her contributions to social thought. She died on February 6, 2019 at the age of 89.
