Russell Kirk (1918-1994), was an American historian, moralist, social critic , and man of letters, best known as the "father of modern conservatism." His landmark book, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot (1953), gave shape to the then-amorphous post-war conservative movement by tracing the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition. It is still considered one of the most important, if not the most important, text in twentieth-century conservative thought.

In 1964 Kirk married Annette Courtemanche. They had four daughters: Monica, Cecilia, Felicia, and Andrea.

After a brief tenure as a university professor, Kirk retired to Piety Hill, his rural home in Mecosta, Michigan, where he exerted tremendous influence on American conservative thought through a steady stream of lectures, articles, and books. His most important works include Eliot and his Age: T.S. Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century (1972), The Roots of American Order (1974), and the autobiographical Sword of the Imagination: Memoirs of a Half Century of Literary Conflict (1995). Kirk was also an accomplished teller and writer of ghost stories, the best of which are collected in Ancestral Shadows (2004).

Kirk was also known for his hospitality. He and Annette entertained many important political, philosophical and literary figures in their home, gave shelter to refugees and hobos, and invited students for study. Kirk also lived his philosophy, rejecting cars (which he called "mechanical Jacobins"), televisions, and computers. Their home is now the site of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.