His novels were so carefully plotted that he never wrote a second draft.
At the Bouchercon 2000, he was nominated Best Mystery Writer of the Century and the Nero Wolfe corpus was nominated Best Mystery Series of the Century.
In 1958, 14th President of the Mystery Writers of America. In 1959, he received the MWA's Grand Master Award.
The creator of famous sleuth Nero Wolfe began his career as a writer of psychological novels. He was also a businessman. The Wall Street crash of 1929 forced him to recoup his losses by writing the financially more lucrative detective fiction.
A longtime friend of P.G. Wodehouse (they both died in 1975). Wodehouse contributed the foreword to John McAleer's Edgar-winning "Rex Stout: A Biography".
During WWII he was active in the Fight for Freedom organization and wrote anti-Nazi propaganda. He also coordinated the volunteer services of American writers to help the war effort.
While on the US Navy (1906-1908) he served as a yeoman on President Theodore Roosevelt's yacht.