Michael Thomas Vitez (born April 11, 1957) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. He is the son of immigrants, his father having fled from Budapest, Hungary in 1939, and his mother came to America from Europe as a German Jew in 1941; both leaving their homeland to escape from Hitler's reign. He is the Director of Narrative Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, after serving as a journalist over a three decade career (1985-2015) with The Philadelphia Inquirer. His work at the Inquirer was focused on human-interest stories. In 1997, Vitez, along with Inquirer photographers April Saul and Ron Cortes, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for a series of articles he wrote on end-of-life care, telling the stories of terminally ill patients who wished to die with dignity. He has authored four books, one based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning stories, Final Choices. Biography Background and education Vitez was born on April 11, 1957, in Washington, DC and grew up in North Springfield, in northern Virginia. He is the son of immigrants, his father, Thomas Vitez, fled Budapest, Hungary in 1939, and his mother, Marianne, came to America from Europe as a German Jew in 1941; both leaving their homeland to escape from Hitler's reign. His parents met in New York City, eventually moving to the Washington area. Even though his parents both wrote their own biographies, he told their stories in his book, Great Americans. He is married to Maureen Fitzgerald, and they have three children. Career Vitez gained his first experience in journalism, as editor in chief of his school newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, at the University of Virginia, from 1978 to 1979. After graduating from the University of Virginia in 1979, Vitez found positions at a series of middle-sized newspapers; first as a staff member at the Virginian-Pilot/LedgeStarr (1979–80), and on the staff of The Washington Star (1980-1981). He was on the staff of the Hartford Courant before being offered and accepting a position at the Inquirer in 1985. Vitez has had a long career in Philadelphia, as a general-assignment feature writer. After completing eight months as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan in 1994–95, Vitez began to focus on aging, and end-of-life decisions. In 1997, Vitez, along with Inquirer photographers April Saul and Ron Cortes, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for a