Timothy Russell, born in Steubenville, Ohio, in 1951 and raised in Follansbee, West Virginia. He passed away in September of 2021 at Toronto, Ohio where he and his wife Jodi lived and raised their four children. The author was a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving as a military dog trainer. From 1970 to 1998 he worked as boilermaker, millwright, and crane operator at Weirton Steel Industries in the Ohio Valley.

While working at Weirton Steel, Russell earned a bachelor's degree from West Liberty State University and a Master of Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. The author received many awards for his writing, including the notable Terence de Prix Award for the publication of 1993 of Adversaria: Poems and a 10-day trip to Japan in 1998 for his haiku poetry writing.