Derek Gray graduated from California State University Northridge in 1987, with a B.A. in English with an option in writing. He is married to his wife Martha, of twenty years and has two daughters, Alexa and Daniella. Derek is a certified fitness trainer who loves the active lifestyle, eating a heart healthy diet, and especially playing the game he has loved his entire life, baseball. When We Were Five is his first book, and was thirty years in the making.