Born in Ann Arbor in 1922, MORTON MINTZ, ’43, graduated from U-M with a degree in economics and served in the U.S. Navy before entering journalism. He eventually joined The Washington Post in 1958, beginning a three-decade tenure of pioneering investigative work for consumer advocacy. One of his most notable publications was a July 1962 front-page profile of Frances Kelsey, a reviewer at the Food and Drug Administration. It detailed Kelsey and her colleagues’ years-long resistance to approving thalidomide for the U.S. consumer market due to concern for lack of adequate testing, despite pressure from the drug maker and its over-the-counter status in Europe to treat anxiety and morning sickness. Thalidomide was pulled from German markets in 1961 but had been distributed for experimental use in the U.S., leading to 40 U.S. babies with birth defects from the drug. Publicity of Kelsey’s work led to legislation strengthening U.S. drug regulation later that year.
For a list of other notable U-M grads, visit alumni.umich.edu/notable-alumni.
