Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2023: DAVID BALDACCI

Bestselling crime and thriller novelist Baldacci, a lifelong Virginian, has made it a mission to give back to the institutions that shaped him.

A Virginia Commonwealth University alumnus and former board of visitors member, Baldacci — with his wife, Michelle — established two scholarships at VCU. One supports students in political science (Baldacci’s major), and the other provides grants to academically promising students from diverse areas of study and backgrounds so they can pursue internships, conferences, research and international study-abroad opportunities.

Baldacci went on to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law and practiced law in Washington, D.C. His first hit novel, “Absolute Power,” was adapted into a 1997 film starring Clint Eastwood. Since then, the prolific writer has penned more than 50 novels that sold more than 130 million copies worldwide as of 2018. Two of his novels were made into Hallmark Channel movies, and Baldacci was a consulting producer on TNT’s “King & Maxwell,” a television series based on his Sean King and Michelle Maxwell books.

The Baldaccis also founded the nonprofit Wish You Well Foundation, which funds adult literacy and education programs nationally.