Michael B. Salwen, professor of Journalism at the University of Miami, died in Miami of after a long battle with cancer on July 17, 2007. He was 53 years old.
Salwen was a renowned scholar who wrote six books and more than 70 articles and book chapters.
Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 1954, Salwen worked as a newspaper journalist in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for 5 years, from 1976 to 1981. He then returned to school, enrolling at Michigan State University, where he received his Ph.D. in mass media in 1985.
Salwen's books included Latin American Journalism (with Bruce Garrison); Radio and Television in Cuba: The Pre-Castro Era; An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research; Evelyn Waugh in Ethiopia: The Story Behind the Scoop; International Communication: Concepts and Cases (with Kwadwo Anokwa and Carolyn A. Lin); and Online News and the Public (with Bruce Garrison and Paul D. Driscoll). In addition to his many publications, he was an associate editor of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly and a member of the editorial board of Journalism Quarterly.
Bruce Garrison, a colleague and sometime coauthor of Salwen's, told the Miami Herald that Salwen had "a very, very broad yet deep understanding in mass communication...to me, you can't get any better than him."
Salwen is survived by his wife and fellow professor, Okhee Lee-Salwen; his mother, Zelda, and his brothers, Ronald and Hal Salwen.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be sent to the Michael B. Salwen Fund at the Office of Advancement, School of Communication, University of Miami, PO Box 248127, Coral Gables, FL 33124.
