Morrie Schwartz

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Morrie Schwartz (December 20, 1916-November 4, 1995) was an American educator. He gained posthumous fame as the subject of the book Tuesdays With Morrie, published in 1997.

[edit] Childhood, education, and career

Born to Charles Schwartz, a Russian immigrant who had moved to escape the Russian Army, Schwartz grew up in the Jewish tenements in New York City. At the age of eight, he was informed that his mother, the owner of a local candy store, had passed away. Not long after, his brother David was diagnosed with polio.

Schwartz earned his undergraduate degree from City College in New York, and his master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1946 and 1951 respectively. He wrote three books on sociology in the 1950s and 1960s. He began teaching at Brandeis University in the sociology department. Among his students was future sportswriter and television host Mitch Albom. Schwartz continued to teach at Brandeis into his 70s, when amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) made it too difficult for him to continue.

[edit] Fame

After seeing Schwartz on Nightline discussing his illness, Albom found his mentor 16 years after their last meeting, and they collaborated on Tuesdays with Morrie during Schwartz's final days in 1995. The book was published in 1997 and has spent more than six years on the USA Today best-seller list. It was made into a television movie in 1999, with Jack Lemmon playing the role of Schwartz and Hank Azaria as Albom.

Ted Koppel's last episode as Nightline host, on November 22, 2005, was a retrospective of Schwartz's appearances.

His personal epitaph was "A Teacher to the Last."