Mitch Albom
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Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958 in Trenton, New Jersey, USA) is an award-winning sportswriter novelist, newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, syndicated radio host, and TV commentator. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia University. Before becoming a journalist, Albom was briefly an amateur boxer, nightclub singer, and pianist.
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Author
Albom wrote the best-selling book, Tuesdays With Morrie (1997). After being featured prominently in Oprah Winfrey's Oprah's Book Club, the book sold exceptionally well, 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. His most recent book is the New York Times best-seller, The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003). It has sold very well, although critics have not had kind words for its sentimentalism. That book was turned into a television movie for ABC starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Imperioli and Jeff Daniels. A parody of the book, called The Five People You Meet in Hell by Jeff Pablum has recently appeared on bookstore shelves.
Mitch 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, as of 2006. The radio show was simulcast on MSNBC in 2001.
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. Mitch and his radio co-host Ken Brown lead each project and try to use the group as a catalyst to increase volunteerism.
Mitch Albom is also part of a rock band, The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose members are all published writers.
Controversy
Albom was the center of a journalistic controversy in April 2005. His column on April 3 described former Michigan State University Spartans Mateen Cleaves and Jason Richardson cheering Michigan State University at a Final Four game against North Carolina on April 2. However, he later announced that this was not true: the players were never at the game. Upon an internal investigation, the Detroit Free Press explained that Albom's column was written based on interviews he'd had with the two players the week prior to the game. They had both expressed plans to be at the game, but ultimately were unable to go. Albom did not have an opportunity to omit this in his column, however, because the deadline for the Sunday column was April 1 (the night before the actual game). The newspaper declared that disciplinary actions would be taken. Some called for Albom's resignation. Others continued to show support.