Jon McCracken has been collecting bear images since childhood. Called to the wild, he resisted long enough to earn his B.A., B.S. and M.B.A. He served in the U.S. Air Force (North Dakota, Okinawa, and Korea) and as a Defense Attache Officer in Saigon. Later, in the U.S., he worked as Chief Financial Officer for the King County Sherriff. A confirmed arctophile and bibliophilist, in retirement he is also an aspiring whittler and watercolor artist. He was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, where he resides sans cellular phone or internet access, enjoying the company of bears.