Mitch Albom visited The Hill School on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, an appropriate day of the week to welcome the author of the best-selling memoir of all time, Tuesdays with Morrie. Albom, our final speaker for the 2025-26 Tom Ruth Speaker Series, delivered a touching address that focused on enduring relationships between students and teachers, the transformative power of mentorship, and the deep fulfillment found in serving others.

Albom opened his talk by reflecting on his earliest mentor, his mother, when he recounted a pivotal day at age seven when a librarian refused to let him borrow 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea because it was “too hard.” His mother confronted the librarian, demanding the book, and insisting no one should ever tell a child a book is beyond them. The moment stayed with him; though the novel was far above his reading level, her conviction taught him that reading was worth fighting for. “When people ask me when I decided to become a writer, I say my mom decided for me,” Albom said, “because she showed me in that moment how important reading was. And after all, we learn what's important to us by what our parents show us is important to them.”

The heart of Albom’s message, however, belonged to his beloved college professor, Morrie Schwartz. Albom recounted meeting Morrie on his very first day at Brandeis University in 1975. Initially planning to drop the small sociology class to avoid being noticed, Albom was stopped in his tracks when the professor called his name. “On such little moments do our lives change,” remarked Albom. When asked what he preferred to be called, the young Albom answered, “My friends call me Mitch.” To which Morrie replied, “I hope one day you'll think of me as your friend.” Little did they know that interaction would change both of their lives in ways they could not have predicted.

Throughout the next four years, Morrie became an uncle-like figure who encouraged Albom to ignore the pursuit of grades and money and instead follow his passions and give back to his community. Yet, despite promising at graduation to stay in touch, Albom got swept up in the fast-paced, high-achieving world of sports journalism and broadcasting.

“We forget the people who make us the kind of people who can have that kind of success. We forget our teachers, we forget our mentors, and I forgot mine for 16 years,” Albom lamented.

It wasn't until Albom randomly saw his old professor on ABC’s Nightline that he realized Morrie was dying from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Reconnecting with Morrie during his final months became the catalyst for how Albom would view his life’s mission. He watched in awe as Morrie, despite losing the use of his hands, legs, and basic bodily functions, refused to be a victim. Instead, Morrie used his remaining time to teach his final and most important lesson: how to live meaningfully while facing death.

"Giving is Living."

It was during these visits on that Albom witnessed Morrie's incredible capacity to comfort others. People would visit intending to cheer him up, only to find themselves sharing their own life struggles while Morrie listened intently. When Albom asked Morrie why he didn't use his condition to take sympathy from others, the professor offered a profound statement that would be Albom’s biggest lesson he took from his Tuesdays with Morrie: “Taking just makes me feel like I'm dying. Giving makes me feel like I'm living.”

“Giving makes me feel like I'm living. It is a profound little sentence. It also rhymes, so it's easy to remember,” said Albom. “Giving makes me feel like I'm living. And you know that it's true. Because you know the opposite is false. Taking never really makes you feel alive.”

Morrie challenged Albom to take that statement and put it into action in his own life by giving back to his community in more meaningful ways than just writing a check. He began his philanthropic work in Detroit with the creation of the Dream Fund, which provides scholarships to students in need who have a passion for the arts. In 2006, he founded the non-profit SAY (Super All Year) Detroit in partnership with the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. SAY Detroit funds 10 separate charity programs and provides pathways to success for residents of Detroit in need through major health, housing, and education initiatives.

All of this was possible, Albom said, because “Morrie taught me, giving is living. And then in 2010, another chapter happened in my life that taught me a great lesson.” That chapter began when he unexpectedly took over operation of a struggling orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following a devastating earthquake. The orphanage was home to children who faced extreme poverty, yet were so happy and thankful for what little they had.

Albom and a team from Detroit rebuilt the orphanage and turned it into a home and a school where the children could thrive.  “Most importantly, we give them love and a sense of belonging and a sense of faith and a sense of purpose in the world and a belief that they will not be abandoned again,” stated Albom. “And when you do that for a child, when you give like that, you see life in its most magnificent form.”

It was through this orphanage that Albom met a spirited little girl named Chika, who became his ultimate teacher in the art of giving. Born just three days before the earthquake, Chika was a survivor who eventually lost her mother during childbirth. Albom and his wife, Janine, took her in, quickly falling in love with her energetic presence. However, when Chica was five years old, she was diagnosed with DIPG, an aggressive and terminal brain tumor. Advised by doctors to simply take her home and let her die, Albom and his wife chose to fight. They brought Chika into their home and traveled the world searching for a cure. While they did not find a medical miracle, they found something just as profound: they became a family.

As the disease progressed and Chika lost the ability to walk, Albom found himself carrying her everywhere. When he tried to rush off to work, Chika reminded him that his true job was simply carrying her.  “What you carry will define you. What we'll put in our arms is who we are,” remarked Albom. “For so many years of my life, all I carried around was my work and my accomplishments, and my books, and my movies, and my money, and my claim, and my awards. And then all of a sudden, you've got to drop all that to carry around a dying seven-year-old. And there's no comparison between the two. The first is ego. The second is a privilege.”

After Chika passed away, Albom realized that they hadn't lost a child; they had been given the incredible gift of parenting her for two beautiful years. Giving to Chika had allowed Albom and his wife to truly live.

Albom brought his address full circle back to Morrie, sharing the professor's final lesson that death ends a life, but not a relationship. “Everything that he ever tried to teach me and everything I'm trying to get across to you here tonight is simply this: if you spend your life with people, making time for people, sharing of yourself with people, mentoring people, giving of yourself with people, being a mentee to people, then when you die, you're not 100% gone. You live on inside the heads and hearts of everybody you touch. And they can talk to you, because you spent time putting yourself inside them. So they can hear your voice. It rings around. It's a memory.”

Albom urged Hill students to invest heavily in their relationships rather than superficial accolades and concluded with a powerful reminder that "giving is living,” and that through our relationships and the acts of kindness we extend to others, we can truly achieve a beautiful form of immortality.

“It's in every act of kindness, sharing, teaching, and love that you exchange with somebody else, stated Albom. “That is how we go on.”

Mitch Albom is an internationally renowned and best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician. His books have collectively sold 42 million copies worldwide; have been published in 51 territories and in 48 languages around the world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically acclaimed television movies. Learn more at https://www.mitchalbom.com/home/.