Michael Jay
AUTHOR

Michael Jay

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Michael Jay is an American author whose book, Dog Water Free, is a literary memoir of formation exploring a mother's enduring influence, the sometimes flawed logic of childhood, and the understanding that grief follows no set timetable.

Raised on Detroit's Westside, Michael lost both parents by fifteen. He attended Detroit Catholic Central High School with help from an anonymous benefactor and went on to graduate from Harvard College and earn an MBA from Northeastern University. He wrote Dog Water Free to honor his mother, Marge, and understand how the boy he had been became the man he was.

His career in resort community development included the Village at Squaw Valley USA, now Palisades Tahoe, in California and Tamarack Resort Village in Idaho. For more than thirty years, he also served as a Harvard College alumni admissions interviewer, listening to young people across the Western United States as they considered their futures.

Dog Water Free is dedicated to his college roommate and longtime friend, Tom Wales, whose friendship plays a pivotal role in the story. The Updated & Revised Edition will be published November 1, 2026, by SJ Thaddeus Press.

Michael lives in Boise, Idaho. A father of two daughters and grandfather of five, he now devotes his time to his family and writing.
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