Thomas Chehak was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and took his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa. After graduation, he headed directly for Hollywood where he found work as a gofer on the Mary Tyler Moore and other television series. With keys to the MGM script vaults, he taught himself to write scripts by reading scripts while, he has said, resting against one or another of the several stuffed collies used for static shots on the Lassie program. In addition to his work as a writer, since the late 1970s Chehak has directed and produced teleplays and television series. He is widely known as a showrunner as well as writer. The papers Chehak has given the Libraries document two projects produced by the Thomas W. Lynch Company: 26 episodes for the children's program, Galidor (sponsored by the Lego Media Company and the Disney Channel) and 13 episodes of a half-hour, action-adventure series, Scout's Safari, shot in South Africa; as well as scripts and DVDs for 13 episodes of The Listener, donated in 2009. The Galidor papers comprise Series I, the Scout's Safari papers comprise series II, The Listener materials comprise Series III; and Miscellaneous items make up Series IV.