Ervin Hanwit Tax was born on June 14, 1910 in Milwaukee, the youngest of four children of Morris and Kate Hanwit Tax. After high school, he chose to attend only one year of college, but was a voracious reader and prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Tax's writings ranged from economics to aesthetics to sociology. He authored several plays, movie scripts, and a novella as well.
Erwin Tax lived at home in Milwaukee, and with his brother, Sol Tax, in Chicago. When the United States entered World War II, Ervin Tax enlisted and served with the Army in North Africa and Italy. While abroad he composed an epic poem, The Wraith of Gawain, fragments of which he sent home in letters to his brother. Upon returning to the United States after the war, Ervin secured a publisher, the Decker Press, for his epic. The Decker Press delayed publication of Tax's poem for so long that he eventually visited the business, finding it in disarray. Tax took an interest in the press and offered his assistance; by 1948, he had invested heavily in the company, eventually owning it. Although indebted, the Decker Press began to turn a profit. The Wraith of Gawain was published and considered a success. Ervin Hanwit Tax was killed on May 10, 1950.
From the guide to the Tax, Ervin Hanwit. Papers, 1910-1950, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)
