Michael Thomas Gilbride was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954. He was the second of six children. He attended the local Catholic elementary school and was a high school student at Bishop Ford High School. He attended Columbia College/Columbia University for two years. His roommate Tim was his high school friend and later became his Best Man . Michael graduated from the City University of New York with a BA in 1986 and an MA in English in 1988 - later in 1992 he received a Masters degree in Secondary Education and then in June 2000 he graduated from the Brooklyn College School Psychology program. Michael worked in Catholic, Public and Private Schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. He worked as both a teacher and as a School Psychologist. He worked in the school systems for more than 30 years.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 Michael started working privately with children with a diagnosis of Autism as an ABA teacher. Michael married his wife of 17 years Providencia Castro Apolinaris on July 17 2004 in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico where many friends and relatives attended including relatives from Ireland.
Michae and his wife Providencia opened their own nursery "Alegria Infantil" in Levittown, Puerto Rico and for 7 years they had their own school. Michael received his license in Psychology in Puerto Rico from the Junta Exminadora and when the nursery closed Michael worked for 11 years with Developmentaly disabled adults in New York.
Michael published his first short book "Letters" in November of 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Michael's second book" "Memoirs: 30 years in the Classroom, Public private and parochial is being published now and is memoirs of his years as a teacher.