My name is Michael Thomas Vitez. My middle name is for my father, Thomas Vitez, who died in 2004. These are some of the things you may want to know about me:

I am best known, perhaps, as the winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a series of stories I wrote, called Final Choices, for The Philadelphia Inquirer. I followed five people as they approached the ends of their lives, and I wrote powerful, intimate narratives about the decisions they made, the choices they faced. These were deeply moving personal stories, but also explained the dramatic changes underway in American society regarding how we die. I will always be most grateful to the people who let me into their lives, and trusted me, at the most tender and private moments of their lives. I am proudest that I didn’t betray that trust, and told stories that were true, powerful and helpful to so many readers. These stories are available at http://www.pulitzer.org. Just plug “Vitez” in the search engine.

My most felicitious and celebrated accomplishment of late is my new book, Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps, published in November of 2006 by Paul Dry Books of Philadelphia. I wrote the book and my colleague Tom Gralish, a photographer, friend and Pulitzer Prize winner himself, took most of the photographs. (Several, actually are mine, when Tom couldn’t make it!) We spent a year at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, interviewing and photographing people from all over the nation and the world who came to run those steps like Sylvester Stallone in the Academy Award winning film, Rocky. That movie was 30 years old in 2006 and yet every day the people still come! The book was a labor of love, a great adventure from start to finish. Sylvester Stallone wrote the foreword. Go here to read all about Rocky Stories: http://pauldrybooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PDB&Product_Code=188&Category_Code=PC.

I have been a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1985, and I specialize in telling wonderful stories about people. My mission has always been to celebrate life, to tell stories that affirm, inspire and entertain. Many people have said many things about me and my work, but I love most how a friend and colleague, Dan Rubin, once described me, as “an eight-year-old who can write.” I have been all over America and several places in the world for the Inquirer, and you can go to “My favorites” on this site and read 20 of my favorite stories. I have many, many more.

And just recently, I have started a new venture on my own, A Love Story. The whole idea is that I will write a story for your wedding reception, anniversary, retirement, or any ocassion. I will bring all my warmth and wit to the story, which you can display at the reception and frame and display in your home for years to come.  Check out A Love Story on this site.

I have had a wonderful career related to journalism. I spent a year, one of the best years of my life, at the University of Michigan as a Michigan Journalism Fellow. I have taught writing for several semesters at The University of Pennsylvania, and for one semester as a Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton. I have lectured and given talks about writing and storytelling at Poynter Institute workshops, in newsrooms and classrooms around the region, and to many community groups. In October of 2007, I was invited to Hong Kong to speak at the first annual Pulitzer Prize Winners Workshop hosted by Hong Kong Baptist University. My philosophy is simple: In a world overrun with facts, information, websites, cable channels, press releases and noise, I believe the best way to reach people is through stories. Stories unite us, nourish us, and are the best way to communicate. For more about this, and about having me come speak, click on the  “Appearances” tap on this website. I got my start in journalism as reporter and editor of the A-Blast at Annandale High School in Annandale, Virginia, and then as reporter and editor-in-chief at The Cavalier Daily at the University of Virginia, where I graduated in 1979. Wahoo-wah.

In the last few years, since Rocky Stories was published, I have been asked to give multi-media presenations at many conventions in Philadelphia. To learn more about this, see My Appearances on this website. In short, I share my own story of how the book came about, and tell the remarkable and inspiring stories of so many people we met at the steps. The talks do two things primarily: 1) Inspire the audience with amazing stories of the people who run the steps and with our own odyssey to publish the book, 2) illustrate the power of storytelling, provide a great sense of Philadelphia and Rocky, and encourage listeners to run the steps to celebrate their own achievements in life. 

PERSONAL

I was born April, 11, 1957. I am 52! Since 1984, I have been married to Maureen Fitzgerald, a wonderful and beautiful woman who is incredibly patient to put up with me! She is the pride of Pennsbury High School, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and also The Philadelphia Inquirer, where she is currently food editor. If you need a restaurant recommendation, just ask me! We have three terrific children: Tim, 25, graduated from the University of Delaware (Go Blue Hens!) and is in sales, living in Philadelphia; Sally, 23, who graduated in May 2008 from Kenyon College with a degree in molecular biology (cum laude!), spent the summer of 2008 in Tanzania working in a public health clinic, and now works for the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C.; and Jonathan, 18, universally known as Boo, is our baby, a senior at Haddonfield Memorial High School. He is a Group II state champion Cross Country runner and excellent student. Yeah Boo! We also have a dog, Rocky, named in honor of my book, who is a long-haired dachshund. He’s usually asleep beside me.

I have lived for 24 years now in Haddonfield, New Jersey, where I have a wonderful life. I have a tennis group, a poker group, and many, many friends. I coached soccer and baseball for many years, and my philosophy was always to emphasize the joy and eliminate the pressure. We had so much fun. In one championship game, a young boy, 11, Ryan Webb, went to bat with the bases loaded, two outs and the game on the line. He was understandably nervous. Earlier that day, his dog, Cyrus, had been neutered. I pulled Ryan aside in the ondeck circle. No matter what happened, I told him, even if he struck out looking, he’d still have a better day than his dog. He grinned broadly and doubled home the winning runs. This is now known as the Cyrus Rule.

I grew up in North Springfield, Virginia. I loved growing up in Northern Virginia, and moving away, to pursue my newspaper career, devastated me more than I realized. My mother still lives in the same house where I grew up. She’s now 84 and still independent, swimming a couple times a week. My parents, Thomas and Marianne Vitez, were immigrants. Dad fled from Budapest, Hungary in1939 to escape Hitler. A German Jew, my mother had an even more harrowing escape from Hitler and Europe, arriving at Ellis Island in New York in 1941. The Jewish charities helped my mother and her parents get on their feet. My mother and father met in New York City, in Washington Heights, and my dad’s job with the Internal Revenue Service brought them to the Washington area. They have both written their life stories. My father died from leukemia in 2004.

I have two wonderful brothers, Danny and Larry. Danny and his family live in Virginia Beach. Dan is an accountant. His wife, Gail, is the pride of Greene County, Va. His sons, Kevin and Doug, both attended the University of Virginia. Larry and his family live in Charlotte, N.C. He is an investment advisor. He has started up the North Carolina Community Sailing Center to enable people of all walks of life and abilities learn to discover and love sailing as he has. It is up and running, and growing, an incredible accomplishment. His wife, Carla, has literally written the book on invasive species. He has two wonderful daughters, Natalie and Celeste. I am lucky, lucky, lucky to have two such great brothers.

I love to run, swim, bike ride, play tennis and poker and I’m not very good at any of them. My favorite writer is Joseph Mitchell, who spent his career writing for The New Yorker, though I also love the stories of Ernie Pyle, war correspondent during WWII. My favorite novel is Lonesome Dove. My favorite movie is Good Will Hunting. My favorite thing to eat is chocolate ice cream. Growing up, I loved the Dallas Cowboys (Calvin Hill, Bob Lilly, Bob Hayes, etc), the New York Knicks (Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Dave Debusschere, etc) and the Boston Bruins ( Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, etc) and my favorite athlete of all time is Willie Mays. I once interviewed Willie Mays in Hartford, Connecticut, when I worked at the Hartford Courant and he came to town to promote a new autobiography. Willie taught me a valuable lesson. I was young and a know-it-all, and I wanted to interview him about his book. He asked me if I’d read it. I had not. He handed me a copy, and told me to come back in two hours. He taught me respect. The book wasn’t very good, but I loved Willie Mays because he was so versatile, he could do it all — without steroids!