Morrie Schwartz

Morris "Morrie" S. Schwartz (December 20, 1916 – November 4, 1995)^[1] was a sociology professor at Brandeis University and an author. He was the subject of the best-selling book Tuesdays with Morrie, which was written by Mitch Albom, a sportswriter who was a former student of his, and published in 1997. The book was followed by a film version based on the book that was made for television in which he was portrayed by Jack Lemmon.

Family

Morrie's father, Charlie Schwartz, was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who left Russia to escape the Russian Army. His mother died when he was only 8 years old. After his wife died, Charlie Schwartz remarried a Romanian woman named Eva who became Morrie's stepmother. Morrie had a younger brother, David Schwartz, who developed polio at a young age which caused him to be paralysed. Later in Morrie's life, Charlie suffered from a heart attack after running from two muggers. Morrie's whole family was Jewish. As Morrie grew up, he stopped believing in this faith and instead adopted multiple beliefs from a variety of different religions.

In adulthood Morrie married a woman named Charlotte and had two sons named Rob and Jon Schwartz.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie is a book about Morrie and a former student of his, Mitch Albom. After seeing Morrie interviewed on Nightline with Ted Koppel, Albom started flying to Morrie's home in Massachusetts from Detroit for Tuesday visits. Mitch had discovered that Morrie had ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), a terminal neurological disease. After about fourteen visits Morrie finally died. Albom's book is full of the lessons and wisdom that Morrie imparts to him in his final stage of life.

Works

• with Alfred H. Stanton: The Mental Hospital: A Study of Institutional Participation in Psychiatric Illness and Treatment. Basic Books 1950, ISBN 978-1-59147-617-7 (2009 edition)
• with Charlotte Green Schwartz: Social Approaches to Mental Patient Care. Columbia University Press 1964
• with Emmy Lanning Shockley: The Nurse and the Mental Patient: a Study in Interpersonal Relations. Wiley 1966, ISBN 978-0-471-76610-0
• Letting Go: Morrie's Reflections on Living While Dying. Walker & Company 1996, ISBN 978-0-8027-1315-5

Notes

References

• Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Print.
• Harris, Richard. Nearly 20 years after his death, Morrie Schwartz lives on. "Boston Globe" March 16, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2016.

External links

• About the Book Tuesdays With Morrie at Random House