Robert Stock was a San Francisco poet who sends Merton a contribution for the fourth volume of «Monks Pond».
Mark Stone was a teacher from Olney High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvanian.
Naomi Burton Stone was Merton's literary agent who became a close friend and confidant. She was born in England and came to the United States in 1939. She took an early interest in Merton's work and was trying, unsuccessfully, to publish his early novels before he entered the monastery. However, she at first thought his writing career had ended when he entered the monastery. Later, Merton would send her a manuscript of The Seven Storey Mountain. In late 1946, she met with success in submitting it to Robert Giroux, who published and edited the best-selling book. (Source: Witness to Freedom, p. 123.)
James Storrow was publisher of «The Nation» magazine and writes from New York.
Sr. Judith Stoughton was art editor of «The New Catholic Encyclopedia» and writes from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Rex Stout was chairman of the Authors Guild, Inc., and writes from New York.
Fr. Henri van Straelen, S.V.D. was a priest of the Society of the Divine Word and a professor of philosophy who spent much of his life as a missionary and scholar in Japan. He was a peritus to the Second Vatican Council.
Roger Straus was a publisher from Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York.
Thelma Straw was headmistress of Saint Mary's Preparatory School for Girls at the Anglican convent of Saint Mary's-on-the-Mountain in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Hudson Strode was an author and professor of English at University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
John L. Strong writes from Landover Hills, Maryland.
Dieter Struß writes from Gütersloh, Germany, on behalf of the publisher Sigbert Mohn Verlag.
Dom Jean-Marie Struyven was a Trappist monk from Belgium and former superior of the Abbey of Our Lady of Consolation. The community was originally founded in the late 19th century in a remote area of China, north of the Great Wall. The community suffered persecution in 1947 and moved to Beijing. At this time, Struyven came to lead the community until he was expelled from China in 1953. He returned to the Abbey of Scourmont near Chimay, Belgium, and there he writes to Merton.
Jim Stuber writes from Brownsville, Texas for some spiritual advice. Later, he writes from Ford City, Pennsylvania, where he was spending time with his mother after his father's death.
Fr. Edmund J. Stumpf was a Jesuit priest writing from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Leo Jozef Cardinal Suenens was Archbishop of Mechelen, Belgium, and one of the principle architects of much of the work of the Second Vatican Council.
John C. Sullivan writes from Leaside, Ontario, Canada.
Oona Sullivan writes on behalf of «Jubilee» magazine from New York.
Warren Sullivan was Chairman of the Board of the Macmillan Company Publishers. He writes from New York.
Arthur Hays Sulzberger was Chairman of the Board of «The New York Times» and its former publisher.
Jean Sulzberger writes on behalf of Time-Life Books in New York and asks for a copy of Thomas Merton's literary magazine, Monks Pond.
Edmund Supro writes from Clarksburg, West Virginia. He spent some time at a Trappist monastery, most likely at Gethsemani Abbey as a novice under Merton, writing that he was "formerly Frater Florian O.C.S.O.").
Dom Angélico Surchamp was a Benedictine monk of La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey and founder of the Romanesque art periodical «Zodiaque», "Atelier du Coeur Meurtry." He writes from Yonne, France.
Aleksei Surkov was a poet from the U.S.S.R. and the General Secretary of the Soviet Writers' Union.
Daisetz T. Suzuki was one of the most influential scholars in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West. He was born in Kanazawa, Japan. He taught at universities in Europe, Japan and the United States. Merton rarely traveled during his years at Gethsemani Abbey, but received permission in 1964 to visit Suzuki at Columbia University in New York. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 560-561.)
Fr. Francis W. Sweeney was a Jesuit priest who was a writing and literature professor at Boston College from 1951-1998. Merton first came into contact with him after Sweeney sent him some poems during his seminary years at Weston College in the late 1940's. Sweeney later headed Boston College's Humanities Lecture Series. Merton and Sweeney corresponded intermittently throughout the rest of Merton's life.
John M. Swomley was editor of «Current Issues», published by the peace and social justice group, The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) of Nyack, New York.
Fr. Sylvester was a Trappist monk who went to Gethsemani's new foundation, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, in Huntsville, Utah.
Mother Sylvia Marie was Superior of the Little Sisters of the Poor of Louisville, Kentucky.
Leo Szilard was a Hungarian-born scientist who, along with Enrico Fermi in 1955, was awarded a patent for a nuclear fission reactor. In 1942, along with Fermi, he conducted the first controlled nuclear chain reaction. He coordinated the letter from Einstein which was sent to President Roosevelt that led to the commencement of the Manhattan Project. After the Second World War, he became involved in the movement to limit nuclear arms, give control to the civilian populace, and to prevent nuclear war. He also shifted from nuclear physics and engineering to molecular biology. (Source: "Hall of Fame: Inventor's Profile - Leo Szilard." Website of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 2002. Accessed 20 June 2006. Bellarmine University Library. ‹http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/141.html›.)
Tadashi Kudo writes while on retreat at a Trappist monastery in Hokkaido, Japan.
Marie Tadié, from Paris, France, served as translator and publishing agent for many of Merton's works in French, Spanish and Italian. Relations later became strained between Tadié, on one side, and Merton, his abbey and his American publishers on the other. Tadié tries to leverage exclusive rights to serve as translation and publishing agent for all Merton's books in romance languages. Merton, Gethsemani Abbey, Merton's American publishers, and Naomi Burton Stone were against this idea, and refused her offer. This prompted threats of legal action from Tadié.
C. H. Talbot was a scholar from the Warburg Institute of London, England. He had written about medieval figures, such as Bernard of Clairvaux and William of York.
Br. Francis Taparra was a Trappist monk from the monastery on Lantao Island near Hong Kong.
Richard Taplinger was head of Taplinger Publishing Company in New York.
Domenico Cardinal Tardini was an Italian priest who held high positions in the Roman Catholic Curia during the tenure of Pope Pius XII and was later elevated to cardinal and Secretary of State of the Vatican under Pope John XXIII in 1958.
Roslyn Targ writes from New York.
William Targ writes from New York.
Manuel Tarín Iglesias writes on behalf of the Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión in Barcelona, Spain.
Lawrence X. Tarpey, Sr. writes from Lexington, Kentucky.
The Rev. Francis C. Tatem, Jr. was Associate Rector for Religious Education at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York.
Note that Rev. Theodore Nelson (Ted) Tatman later in life legally changed his name to Theodore N. McGill.