Michael Schumacher, acclaimed author of biographies of Coppola and Clapton, dies at 75

His daughter confirmed that her father passed away on December 29

Michael’s extensive bibliography included varied biographies such as Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker’s Life , Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton , and Dharma Lion: A Biography of Allen Ginsberg. (Emily Joy Schumacher)

Michael Schumacher, the Wisconsin author known for his diverse literary output, from biographies of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and musician Eric Clapton to accounts of Great Lakes shipwrecks, has died aged 75.

His daughter, Emily Joy Schumacher, confirmed on Monday that her father passed away on December 29, without providing a cause of death.

Michael’s extensive bibliography included varied biographies such as Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker’s Life, Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton, and Dharma Lion: A Biography of Allen Ginsberg, which chronicled the prominent Beat Generation poet and writer. Other notable works included Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers & the Birth of the NBA and Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics, honoring a pioneer of the graphic novel concept and one of American comic books’ earliest cartoonists.

Though he was born in Kansas, Schumacher lived most of his live in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Emily Joy Schumacher)

Though he was born in Kansas, Michael lived most of his live in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He studied political science at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside but left the school just one credit short of graduating, his daughter said. He gravitated toward writing at a young age, she said, and basically built two writing careers — one focused on biographies and another on Great Lakes lore.

Living on the shores of Lake Michigan in Kenosha, the author produced accounts of how the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior in 1975; a November 1913 storm that claimed the lives of more than 250 Great Lakes sailors; and how four sailors fought to survive on Lake Michigan after their ship sank in a storm in 1958.

Emily described her father as “a history person” and “a good human." She said he worked longhand, filling countless flip notebooks and later transcribing them on a typewriter. She said she still remembers the sound of the keys clacking.

“My dad was a very generous person with people,” Emily said. “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.”