Rita Gallagher was a former Miss Michigan, who married a U.S. Air Force pilot.

A Romance novelist of three novels, Rita is famous for creating with her daughter, Rita Clay Estrada, the Romance Writers of America (R.W.A.). Her daughter was the first president, after which, in their honour, the R.W.A. named their award's golden statuette "RITA", now the highest award of excellence in the genre and a symbol for the very best that romance fiction has to offer each year. Rita also was a noted writing instructor, who published with her daughter the books "Writing Romances" and "You Can Write a Romance".

Rita died on the first of February 2004 in Houston.