Mitch Albom is an internationally renowned and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have collectively sold more than 40 million copies worldwide; have been published in 51 territories and in 48 languages around the world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically-acclaimed television movies. In 2006, he founded the nonprofit SAY Detroit, an organization for major health, housing and education initiatives for Detroit's most underserved citizens, which also includes a dessert shop and a gourmet popcorn line to fund them. He also operates a home and school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan.
Mitch Albom was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey, the middle of three children to Rhoda and Ira Albom. The family moved to the Buffalo, N.Y. area briefly before settling in Oaklyn, New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. Mitch grew up wanting to be a cartoonist before switching to music. He taught himself to play piano, and played in bands, including The Lucky Tiger Grease Stick Band, throughout his adolescence. After attending high schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he left for college after his junior year. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1979 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, majoring in sociology, but stayed true to his dream of a life in music, and upon graduation, he worked for several years as a performer, both in Europe and America. One of his engagements during this time included a taverna on the Greek island of Crete, in which he was a featured American performer who sang Elvis Presley and Ray Charles songs. He also wrote and produced the recording of several songs.
In his early 20s, while living in New York, he took an interest in journalism and volunteered to work for a local weekly paper, the Queens Tribune. He eventually returned to graduate school, earning a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, followed by an MBA from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. During this time, he paid his tuition partly through work as a piano player. Mitch eventually turned full-time to his writing, working as a freelance sports journalist in New York for publications such as Sports Illustrated, GEO, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. His first full time newspaper job was as a feature writer and eventual sports columnist for The Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel in Florida. He moved to Detroit in 1985, where he became a nationally-acclaimed sports journalist at the Detroit Free Press and one of the best-known media figures in that city’s history, working in newspapers, radio and television. He currently hosts a daily talk show on WJR radio (airs Monday through Friday, 4-6 p.m. EST) and made regular appearances on ESPN Sports Reporters (co-founding its later iteration as a podcast with Mike Lupica and Bob Ryan) and SportsCenter.
Mitch’s time spent with his beloved professor. As a labor of love, Mitch wrote the book to help pay Morrie’s medical bills. It spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller list and is now the most successful memoir ever published. His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, is the most successful US hardcover first adult novel ever. For One More Day debuted at No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months on the list. In October 2006, For One More Day was the first book chosen by Starbucks in the newly launched Book Break Program, which also helped fight illiteracy by donating one dollar from every book sold to Jumpstart. Have a Little Faith, was released in September 2009 and selected by Oprah.com as the best nonfiction book of 2009. His following titles, The Time Keeper and The First Phone Call from Heaven, both debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Bestselling The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto (2015) was the first book to be published in tandem with a soundtrack of original songs and covers, released by Republic Records. Debuting as #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven, a sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven that follows the life of the little girl after being saved by the first book’s lead character.
Following his bestselling memoir Finding Chika, and Human Touch, a weekly serial written and published online which raised nearly $1 million for pandemic relief, he returned to fiction with The Stranger in the Lifeboat, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers List after being #1 on Amazon. His much-anticipated new novel, The Little Liar, set during the Holocaust, is coming in the fall of 2023.
Four of Albom’s best sellers have been turned into successful TV movies. Oprah Winfrey produced the film version of Tuesdays With Morrie in December 1999, starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. The film garnered four Emmy awards, including best TV film, director, actor and supporting actor. The critically acclaimed Five People You Meet in Heaven aired on ABC in winter, 2004. Directed by Lloyd Kramer, the film was the most watched TV movie of the year, with 19 million viewers. Oprah Winfrey Presents Mitch Albom’s For One More Day aired on ABC in December 2007 and earned Ellen Burstyn a Screen Actors Guild nomination. Most recently. Hallmark Hall of Fame produced the film adaptation of Have a Little Faith, which aired on ABC in November 2011. It starred Laurence Fishburne, Bradley Whitford, Martin Landau, and Anika Noni Rose. In 2013, Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to The First Phone Call from Heaven for a feature film release. An award-winning journalist and radio host, Albom wrote the screenplay for For One More Day, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and Have a Little Faith and is an established playwright, having authored numerous pieces for the theater, including the off-Broadway version of Tuesdays With Morrie (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher) which has seen over one hundred productions across the US and Canada. Mitch is also an accomplished song writer and lyricist. Later in his life, when music had become a sideline, he would see several of his songs recorded, including the song “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)” which he wrote for rock singer Warren Zevon. Albom also wrote and performed songs for several TV movies, including “Cookin’ for Two” for Christmas in Connecticut, the 1992 remake directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Albom has founded several charities in the metropolitan Detroit area, including SAY Detroit (2006), which provides pathways to success for Detroiters in need. This is achieved by direct efforts; with civic and community partners; through initiatives such as an after-school motivational learning center (SAY Detroit Play Center), a free medical clinic (SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic), a housing program for working families (Working Homes / Working Families); and other learning, health care and housing programs. It also supports local partner charities with funds raised at an annual December Radiothon, broadcast live on WJR (760 AM).
The Heart of Detroit is a groundbreaking public service initiative. Airing weekly during Local 4 News (Detroit) at 5 p.m. and then on theheartofdetroit.org, The Heart of Detroit sharws inspiring stories of metro Detroiters with heart and everyday people who step up to help make our community a better place to live.
A Hole in the Roof Foundation helps faith groups of every denomination who care for the homeless repair the spaces in which they carry out their work. The seed that gave root to the Foundation – and also inspired its name—was the hole in the roof of the I Am My Brother’s Keeper church in inner-city Detroit, written about in Have a Little Faith.
Have Faith Haiti provides safety, nourishment, education, and opportunity for Haiti’s impoverished children and orphans, and stability for staff and their families in Port-au-Prince. We provide a loving home where children can thrive personally, academically, and spiritually. After graduating from our bilingual academy, children have a pathway to attend college or vocational training and return home as changemakers and leaders in the Haitian community.
In August 2015, Albom opened the Detroit Water Ice Factory, located at 1014 Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. A charitable retail operation, DWIF offers a delicious frozen dessert with 100% of all profits going to help Detroit’s neediest through SAY Detroit. Employees are often members of SAY Detroit partner programs. Detroit Water Ice launched a line of gourmet popcorn called Brown Bag Popcorn, which has grown into its very own sister brand to DWIF and opened its own retail store in The Somerset Collection in Troy, MI in 2019.
Albom also raises money for literacy projects through a variety of means including his performances with The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of writers which includes Stephen King, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Amy Tan and Ridley Pearson. Albom serves on the boards of various charities and, in 1999, was named National Hospice Organization’s Man of the Year. In 2010, Albom was named the recipient of the Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013, he was inducted into the National Sports Media Association’s Hall of Fame, followed by the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
He lives with his wife, Janine, in Detroit, MI.
Website - https://www.mitchalbom.com/D
