Mitch Albom
From BookJive
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| Born: | May 23, 1958 |
| Died: | |
| Residence: | Michigan |
| School: | Akiba Hebrew Academy, Brandeis University, and Columbia University |
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Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey) is a novelist and newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, radio host, and TV commentator. Before becoming a journalist, Albom was briefly an amateur boxer, nightclub singer, and pianist.
[edit] Sports Columnist
Albom first gained fame as a sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press newspaper. Between 1985 and 2000 Albom wrote several sports columns each week, as well as a regular column in Playgirl Magazine. Presently, his columns appear on a sporadic basis. During that time, Albom also provided regular sports updates on local radio stations.
Each year his sports columns were entered in the Associated Press Sports Editors contest. Albom competed against columnists at newspapers with a circulation above 250,000. All entries are judged anonymously. Preliminary judging is done by more than 90 sports editors, then senior news executives at papers throughout the United States make the final awards. The judges change each year. Albom is the most decorated winner in the history of the contest. Between 1985 and 2000 Albom won first place in column writing thirteen times, and between 1991 and 2000 he won first prize in feature story writing seven times.
During a strike at the Detroit Free Press in the mid-1990s that gained considerable national attention, Albom crossed the picket line and returned to work.
[edit] Author
Albom wrote Tuesdays With Morrie in 1997. After being featured prominently on Oprah Winfrey's show, the book became a best-seller, and Oprah Winfrey produced a television movie adaptation for ABC starring Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon. The television movie adaptation of Tuesdays with Morrie was the most watched television movie of 1999 and won four Emmy Awards. Albom's second book is the New York Times best-seller The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). It was turned into a television movie for ABC, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Imperioli and Jeff Daniels.
Some of Albom's other contributions include Live Albom volumes I-IV, Fab Five, and Bo.
Albom's most recent book, published in 2006, is titled For One More Day, about a son who gets to spend a day with his mother who died eight years earlier.
[edit] Personal
After his experiences with Morrie Schwartz, subject of Tuesdays with Morrie, he started a Detroit volunteer group in 1998 called A Time to Help. Every month, the group (affiliated with Volunteer Impact) does a project to help serve and improve the Detroit community. Projects have included work at homeless shelters, food banks, senior citizens homes, and orphanages. Albom and radio co-host Ken Brown lead each project and try to use the group as a catalyst to increase volunteerism.
Albom is also part of a rock band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose members are all published writers.
Albom appears regularly on ESPN's The Sports Reporters and SportsCenter. His radio show airs on WJR radio in Detroit from 5 to 7 p.m. ET, with Mondays having an extra hour for just sports as of 2006. The radio show was simulcast on MSNBC in 2001.
Albom currently lives in Michigan with his wife Janine.
Albom appeared on the Dr. Phil show on May 30, 2007.
[edit] Books
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