Jon Wilson was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska and moved to St. Petersburg with his family in 1956. He worked for thirty-seven years as a reporter and editor for the St. Petersburg Evening Independent and the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times). After retiring from newspapers, he worked as Florida Humanities communications consultant for eleven years. Wilson holds master's degrees in journalism studies and in liberal arts from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He is the author or co-author of five books about St. Petersburg, and in 2021 received a Key to the City from Mayor Rick Kriseman for inclusive chronicling of the city's history.