Joe Sharkey
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Joe Sharkey | |
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| Born | October 15, 1946 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 6, 2023 (aged 77) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
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| Children | 3 |
Joseph Michael Sharkey (October 15, 1946 – November 6, 2023) was an American author and columnist. His columns focused mostly on business travel, while his non-fiction books focused on criminality; he also co-authored a novel. He wrote for The New York Times from 1996 to 2015. Before then, he was an Assistant National Editor for The Wall Street Journal, the City Editor for the Albany Times-Union, and a columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Personal life
Joseph Michael Sharkey was born in Philadelphia on October 15, 1946.[1] He enrolled at Pennsylvania State University, but did not graduate, and instead joined the U.S. Navy. While there, he wrote for the Navy News Service during the Vietnam War.[1]
Sharkey was married to Carolynne White; they had three children and divorced in 1982. Three years later, he married editor Nancy J. Albaugh.[1]
On November 6, 2023, Sharkey died from a stroke, caused by hypertension, at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He was 77.[1]
Books
Sharkey's 1994 book Bedlam: Greed, Profiteering, and Fraud in a Mental Health System Gone Crazy is an investigation of the
The psychiatric industry, warned Sharkey — whose late father-in-law was a respected psychiatrist involved in setting up non-profit mental health clinics during the 1980s in New York state and whose daughter is a researcher, professor, and licensed clinical social worker — has been lobbying legislatures for an increasing share of government health spending. Despite such warnings by Sharkey and mental health watchdogs, similar practices have continued to evolve in Texas (where many of the events depicted in Bedlam took place), in the form of the Texas Medication Algorithm Project, and at the federal level with the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.[citation needed]
Another of Sharkey's books is Above Suspicion, the nonfiction story of
Sharkey's book, Deadly Greed, which has been optioned for a feature film, explored the sensational 1989
Sharkey also co-authored a novel, Lady Gold, with former
Aircraft accident
Joe Sharkey was one of seven people aboard an
And it had been a nice ride. Minutes before we were hit, I had wandered up to the cockpit to chat with the pilots, who said the plane was flying beautifully. I saw the readout that showed our altitude: 37,000 feet. I returned to my seat. Minutes later came the strike (it sheared off part of the plane’s tail, too, we later learned).
During an interview with
The pilots, Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, were composed and focused, like "infantrymen who were well trained." Still, Sharkey and the other passengers, despite an uneasy calm, grew concerned. "It was very serene," Sharkey said. "At first it was just quiet and grimly concern." An engineer on board noticed the damaged wing was starting to peel, and Sharkey said it was then that everyone on board started to think about dying. "That’s the point in which it was clear that one way or another we were going down in unpleasant circumstances, and probably, since we couldn’t find a runway, we were going to ditch."
Sharkey scribbled a quick note to his wife, "I expressed my love, my appreciation and the fact that I accepted death." He put the note in his wallet, thinking it might eventually be found.[1] "And then I thought… it was almost bizarre … Is this going to hurt? And how badly is it going to hurt?" The pilots eventually spotted a remote military airstrip and safely put the plane down. Sharkey said that when he found out, several hours later, that the Legacy jet hit a commercial airliner, he thought, "We should not be the ones walking away from this." Asked, at the end of the interview, about the pilots who saved his life, he said, "I think we need to be careful about how the evidence is evaluated, because I think these guys are in some peril."
On his blog, "Joe Sharkey at Large", Sharkey wrote about his experience and of being held for 36 hours for interrogation after the forced landing, his views on the ongoing investigation, and the public response against him and others aboard the Legacy jet. In response to Sharkey's questioning of Brazil's air traffic control infrastructure,
"I cannot anticipate testimony that may be given, for example, by this [Joe Sharkey] in the United States. It is evident, it seems to me that his personality is a little frivolous, because with the number [of accidents] we have and the statements he makes, it [Sharkey's statement] is something absolutely inadequate."[3]
Pires was later fired for his handling of the 2006–2007 Brazilian aviation crisis.[4]
In 2008, Sharkey was sued before a Brazilian court for an article in The New York Times. The widow of one of the victims claimed the article (in which Sharkey blamed the crash on incapable air operators) defamed the Brazilian people and consequently her personal dignity.[5]
Books
- 1990 (reprint date) Death Sentence: The Inside Story of the John List Murders
- 1991 Deadly Greed: The Riveting True Story of the Stuart Murder Case that Rocked Boston and Shocked the Nation
- 1993 Above Suspicion
- 1994 Bedlam: Greed, Profiteering, and Fraud in a Mental Health System Gone Crazy
- 1998 Lady Gold (with Angela Amato)
References
- ^ a b c d e f Roberts, Sam (November 15, 2023). "Joe Sharkey, Travel Writer Who Survived Midair Collision, Dies at 77". The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ Sharkey, Joe (October 3, 2006). "On The Road - Colliding With Death at 37,000 Feet, and Living". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- Folha de S. Paulo(in Portuguese). Folha.com. September 10, 2006. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- ^ "Brazil's Defence Minister Fired". BBC Online. July 25, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- ^ Ehrenfeld, Rachel (December 21, 2009). "The British Threat to American Free Speech". The Wall Street Journal.
External links
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