Gold was born in Cleveland , Ohio in a Russian Jewish family .
Gold was raised in Lakewood , a community he was later to memorialize in his first book , Birth of a Hero , published in 1951 by Viking Press .
Gold was born in Cleveland , Ohio in a Russian Jewish family , and raised in Lakewood , a community he was later to memorialize in his first book , Birth of a Hero , published in 1951 by Viking Press .