Writer Michael Schumacher, who is known for his biographies of Francis Ford Coppola and Eric Clapton, has died at the age of 75.
His daughter said he died on Dec. 29 but did not provide a cause of death, The Associated Press reported.
Schumacher was born in Kansas but lived most of his life in Wisconsin. He had studied political science at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside but left school with only one credit left before graduation.
He had two specialties when it came to his topics: biographies and the stories of the Great Lakes.
Schumacher wrote a book about the Edmund Fitzgerald, one about a 1913 storm that killed hundreds of sailors on the lakes and a sinking in 1958 that saw four sailors fight for their survival, the AP reported.
He also wrote biographies on a variety of celebrities, including Coppola, Clapton, poet Allen Ginsberg, the NBA’s George Mikan and cartoonist Will Eisner.
The writer’s daughter, Emily Joy, said her father was “a history person” who wrote longhand in notebooks then transcribed the notes on a typewriter.
“He loved people. He loved talking to people. He loved listening to people. He loved stories. When I think of my dad, I think of him engaged in conversation, coffee in his hand and his notebook,” she shared.
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