The Longevity Book Club:
A Conversation with Rob Schwartz
May 2, 2023
Who am I really? What have I done? What is important and meaningful to me? What difference does it make that I have lived? What does it mean to be truly human, and where am I on that scale?
Morrie Schwartz, the beloved subject of the number one bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, explores these questions and many more in a profound story of living and aging joyfully and creatively. On May 2nd, we welcomed his son and editor of The Wisdom of Morrie, Rob Schwartz, to the Longevity Book Club. Martha and Ken talked with Rob about insights from the book, his reflections on aging and living well, and the inspiration behind completing the project.
Morrie Schwartz became an internationally renowned figure posthumously after Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie stayed number one on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for five years. Before that he was a beloved professor of sociology at Brandeis University and cherished therapist at Greenhouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Morrie wrote on a wide variety of topics. He dedicated his life to helping people understand their relationships to society, other people, and themselves. His groundbreaking 1954 book (with Alfred Stanton) The Mental Hospital made him a superstar in the field of sociology, earning Morrie a full professorship as his first university position. Morrie was dedicated to social justice and valuing every human being.
Rob Schwartz is a writer, producer, and entrepreneur. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Interview, and Melody Maker, among others. He was a script editor at NHK World TV for fourteen years and has been an Asia correspondent for Billboard magazine since 2008. In 2005 he founded the electro-rock crossover label Dynastic Records in Japan. Rob produces feature films, including Putty Hill (2010) and Bernard and Huey (2017); actively invests in tech-based start-ups; and is currently a partner in the virtual concertcreation platform Moshpit (www.Moshpit.Live).