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Morris
S. Schwartz
(b. December 20, 1916 at New York City, d. November 4, 1995 at
Newton, Massachusetts) was an American educator. He gained
posthumous fame as subject of the book Tuesdays With Morrie,
published in 1997.
Schwartz grew up
in the Jewish tenements in New York City. He took his
undergraduate degree from City College in New York, and received
his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1946 and
1951 respectively. He wrote three books on mental health in the
1950s and 1960s. Additionally, he began teaching at Brandeis
University, in the sociology department. Among his students was
future sportswriter Mitch Albom. Schwartz continued to teach at
Brandeis into his 70s, until a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis made it too difficult for him to continue.
After seeing
Schwartz on Nightline discussing his illness, Albom found
his old mentor, 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 6 years on the USA Today best
seller list. It was made into a TV movie in 1999, with Jack Lemmon
playing the role of Schwartz.
His personal
epitaph was "A Teacher to the Last."
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