Harry Harrison (1925 - 2012)
Harry Harrison was born Henry Maxwell Dempsey in Connecticut, in 1925. He is the author of a number of much-loved series including the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill the Galactic Hero sequences and the Deathworld Trilogy. He is known as a passionate advocate of Esperanto, the most popular of the constructed international languages, which appears in many of his novels. He has been publishing novels for over half a century and is perhaps best known for his seminal novel of overpopulation, Make Room! Make Room!, which was adapted into the cult film Soylent Green. He died in 2012.
For more information see www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/harrison_harry
Gordon R. Dickson (1923-2001)
Gordon Rupert Dickson was born in Alberta, Canada, in 1923 but resided in the United States from the age of thirteen. Along with Robert A. Heinlein, he is regarded as one of the fathers of military space opera, his Dorsai! sequence being an early exemplar of both military SF and Future History. Dickson was one of the rare breed of authors as well known for his fantasy as his SF. The Dragon and the George, the first novel in his Dragon Knight sequence, was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award and won the British Fantasy Award. Dickson's work also won him three Hugos and a Nebula. He died in 2001.
For more information see http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/dickson_gordon_r