Visual Editor Not Present Under Author Role

The reason is not in the user role I suppose. Visual Editor is available even to Contributor by default. Check browser JavaScript console for the error messages. If there are errors try to resolve them – deactivate plugin to which that JavaScript file belongs.

Or try to deactivate all plugins – check if Visual Editor returned to for the Author role. Then isolate plugin which causes a problem.

Thanks for the reply. The weird thing is I can assign any author role to editor for example then everything displays fine with no issues on the Visual Editor side. If I change it back to Author the Visual Editor and all of its options disappear. Just needing to know if this plugin will correct it or if I have something else happening altogether. To me it seems like a simple thing of authors role not having enough access.

It is possible to add capabilities to the ‘Author’role and make it equal to the ‘Editor’ role with the help of “User Role Editor”. But I don’t think that you need especially that.
Just recommendation: Try to check if the issue exists with all plugins deactivated.

I am unfamiliar with User Role Editor. Is this a difficult plugin to configure and should this do the trick for me?

It’s easy to use User Role Editor. You may compare role and add/remove capabilities from them by turning on/off needed checkboxes.

Did you follow my recommendation to check if the reason of the problem may be some plugin?