Jack Bartley

Jack Bartley lived on Oahu for almost five years while serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy in the 1970’s, completing a WestPac/Vietnam tour on a Knox-class destroyer escort during that time. He returned to the East Coast to earn his Ph.D. in ecology and was an associate professor at the University of Delaware. For fifteen years, Jack brought UD students to Hawaii for the month of January to study reef systems, volcanic origins, evolution, and Polynesian culture.

Jack’s column “Educational Perspectives” appeared monthly in the Newark Post for ten years. He published the romantic comedy Public Ed – A Novel in 2005 and it is still available as an e-book. His fictionalized memoir of his time in the US Navy, Smoke on the Water, was published by Koehler books on April 15, 2025. The first book of his young adult novel series, Hilo Dome, will be released by Histria Books on May 20th, 2025, to be followed by The Seekers and The World Awakens.

Jack has released two CDs of Celtic folk music with his former band, “So’s Your Mom,” and just completed mixing a double-CD of “Americana Music” with his duo “Whiskey Creek.”

He is now retired and devotes his time to writing and music. Jack is a docent at the James Farm Ecological Preserve near his home in Ocean View, Delaware, where he lives with his wife, Susan, Jesse the Dog, and Clementine the Cat.