Marita Malone was born in Germany just after the end of World War II and lived in a German orphanage for a couple of years. She was adopted by American parents and brought to the United States. She received undergraduate degrees in sociology and English, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Public Administration.

As a retired FBI special agent and former academician at the secondary level and at major universities, she has published several criminal justice, management, conflict management, and security management articles and a related book on change management. She has traveled internationally presenting to law enforcement agencies.

Regardless of her apparent achievements, she defines success differently. Her definition is having acquired a feeling of value and belonging. She took a lifetime searching for this meaning of success and a longer time arriving at it. Not until she was 59 years old was she introduced to her birth mother’s and father’s families in Germany. Not until after then did she feel successful. Not until then did she write the memoir My Mother My Daughter.