Douglas Fairbairn

Douglas Behl Fairbairn (December 20, 1926 – October 2, 1997) was an American author who mainly wrote about South Florida.

His novels include A Man's World (1956), A Squirrel of One's Own (1971), Shoot (1973), A Squirrel Forever (1975), Street 8 (1977) and his memoir, Down and Out in Cambridge (1982).

His screen credits include the television episode "A Man's World" (based on his novel of the same title) for Studio One in Hollywood, the episode "The Voice of Charlie Pont" on Alcoa Premiere (1962), and a full-length feature film from his novel Shoot (1976; adapted by Richard Berg).

Born Douglas Behl in Elmira, New York, to Jean Melissa "Missy" (née Fairbairn) and Martin E. Behl. His father was born in Westphalen, Germany, and came to America as a toddler. His mother was born in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. His parents moved around a lot, married in Cleveland, Ohio in 1918, they lived in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. His parents got a divorce when he was a child and he never saw his father again. (His father moved back to New York City and later died in Santa Barbara, California in 1967.) His mother later remarried, to Wesley Hibbard Bunce, and they moved to Coconut Grove, Florida in 1938. After going by Douglas Bunce for a time, although not officially, he legally changed his last name to his mother's maiden name in 1955.

He attended but did not graduate from Harvard College, where he was editor of the Harvard Lampoon. He returned to the Miami area where he would live out the rest of his life.