John Colby Ney

Family-Placed Obituary

JOHN COLBY NEY Writer, Port Salerno FL, age 87, died April 15, 2011 of natural causes. He was born on May 3, 1923 in St. Paul, MN and grew up in New York and Saint Louis, MO. He matriculated from The John Burroughs School, Saint Louis, and attended the University of California at Berkley. In 1949 he moved to Italy where he worked for David O. Selznick as a script writer and dialogue coach. He subsequently lived in England, Spain, Scotland, Jamaica, and Greece. He produced numerous novels, nonfiction books, plays, movie scripts, texts, many written as a professional ghost-writer. For a while Mr. Ney lived in the Blue Ridge section of Virginia and also in Patagonia, AZ. In the 1960's he moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where he wrote: Palm Beach: The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces. He also authored the award winning young adult series OX The Story of a Kid At The Top. In the 1960s Mr. Ney moved to Switzerland and then Austria and Greece. Until his death, Mr. Ney wrote continuously. Mr. Ney was predeceased in 1991 by his wife Marian Gregg Wallace, also of Saint Louis, MO. Together they had three children: Sarah Ney of New Orleans, Peter Ney of St Petersburg, FL, and Janet (Ney) Lay of Saint James City, FL. Also surviving are four grandsons Nicolas and Alexander Kern and Alden and Ian Lay and one son-in-law, Donald Tracy Lay. Mr. Ney is also survived by his brother the Hon. Edward Noonan Ney, U.S. Ambassador to Canada (1989-1992) and Chairman Emeritus of Young and Rubicam Advertising. Edward Ney is married to Patricia Wood Ney, they reside in NYC. Also surviving are nieces Hilary Ney of NYC and Michelle (Ney) Kilduff of Brattleboro VT and nephew Nicholas Ney of Menlo Park CA. John Ney leaves behind his great love, Ann Coleman, with whom he shared the last 15 years of his life on the Isle of Mykonos and in Port Salerno. In lieu of Memorial: Donations may be made to Treasure Coast Hospice Martin County 1201 SE Indian Street, Stuart Florida, 34997. To express condolences and/or make donations Visit PalmBeachPost.com/obituaries