Micronesia RPCV Eric Lax is Author of, among other works, biographies on Woody Allen and Humphrey Bogart, as well as books on medical topics from bone marrow transplantation to the development of Penicillin
Author of, among other works, biographies on Woody Allen and Humphrey Bogart, as well as books on medical topics from bone marrow transplantation to the development of Penicillin
Following graduation, Lax joined the Peace Corps serving in Truk and the Caroline Islands in the Western Pacific. After completing his two year placement, he worked in Washington D.C., first as a Peace Corps Fellow, then as Overseas Director of the Peace Corps School Partnership Program, which allowed him to travel to 43 countries.
He left the Peace Corps in 1970 to pursue writing full-time. Lax's longtime passion for comedy resulted in his first book, On Being Funny (1975), in which he used the work and thoughts of Woody Allen as a means of writing about comedy in general. In 1984, Lax authored Life and Death on 10 West, about the bone marrow transplantation ward at the UCLA Medical Center (which was headed at the time by classmate Dr. Robert Peter Gale '66). His work was recognized by the New York Times Book Review as one of the Notable Books of the Year and received an award from the American Leukemia Society. In 1991, Lax published the best seller and The New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Woody Allen: A Biography, which was translated into 17 languages. Five years later, Lax wrote Paul Newman: A Celebration, followed in 1997 by Bogart, co-authored with A.M. Sperber, on the life of actor Humphrey Bogart. The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat, about the development of penicillin, is due to be published in 2003.
Lax has contributed to many magazines, including Atlantic, Life, The Washington Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Esquire. He is a judge for the Los Angeles Times Book prize in Biography; a member of the board of International PEN, the London-based writers' organization; and the Chair of the Trustees of the International PEN Foundation.
Lax lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., with his wife Karen Sulzberger and children Simon and John.
