Omar Tyree

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Omar Rashad Tyree was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1969. He graduated from Central High School in 1987. He is currently married to Karintha and together they have two sons. He currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[edit] Biography

Upon his graduation, Tyree enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh where he studied to become a pharmacist, like his mother.^{[citation needed]} He was awarded $3,400 by the Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Society for his academic excellence in math and science.^{[citation needed]} Omar Tyree transferred to Howard University in 1989. In 1991, during his senior year, Tyree became the first student in Howard University's history to have a featured column published in The Hilltop (the award winning campus newspaper.) Tyree's column was titled Food for Thought. In 1991. Tyree received a degree in Print journalism from Howard University. Shortly after, he worked as a reporter and an assistant editor at The Capitol Spotlight, a weekly newspaper in Washington, D.C. Later, he was then hired as chief reporter for News Dimensions, another black-owned weekly newspaper. In 1992, he became the president and founder of MARS Productions. During this time, he published the books Flyy Girl, Capitol City and BattleZone, which was originally titled Colored, On White Campus. In 1998, Tyree partnered with Simon & Schuster to produce over thirteen novels, including a reprint of Flyy Girl and the publication of A Do Right Man. Tyree has been named the "literary king of self promotion" by Black Issues Book Review^{[citation needed]}. In 2001 Omar Tyree has won the 2001 NAACP Image Award for outstanding literature for his book For the Love of Money. He has also written books under the pen name of "The Urban Griot". Titles under this name include, College Boy (2003) and Cold Blooded (2004).