Frank Thompson was raised in Los Angeles and studied at Michigan State University where he also worked at the university press. After moving to Australia, he was production manager at Angus and Robertson and a sales manager for Prentice Hall's tertiary list. In 1961 he became manager of the University of Queensland Press. In 1983 he became general manager of Rigby in Adelaide, later moving to Canberra to manage the Insitute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and then to the Australian Government Publishing Service where he was director of publishing and marketing. Thompson retired in 1993 to become a publishing consultant. In 1994 Thompson was made an honorary life member of the Australian Booksellers and Publishers Association (ABPA).
