If It Fitz: the Best of Jim Fitzgerald

Veteran columnist Jim Fitzgerald wrote a popular humorous column sharing his unique perspective on life for the Detroit Free Press four days a week for nearly two decades (from 1976 until his retirement in 1996). He was well-known for standing up for "regular" people and the injustice of special breaks for people with money, power and influence. IF IT FITZ is a compilation of his most popular columns up to 1985, by which time Fitzgerald had written more than 2,000 columns and was syndicated in more than 50 newspapers. Born in Port Harbor, Michigan, Fitzgerald received a B.A. from Michigan State University in 1951. After serving in WWII, he worked from 1951 until 1976 as ad salesman, reporter, and for 15 years--editor for the Lapeer (Michigan) County Press. In 1976 he became a columnist for the Free Press in Detroit. Always the consummate journalist, Jim Fitzgerald even wrote his own obituary. True to his image as a man of wit and simple tastes who enjoyed poking fun at himself, it was typewritten on a single piece of lined yellow legal paper, complete with assorted typos and penciled-in editing marks.