Who is Morrie Schwartz from Morrie: In His Own Words and what is their importance?

Morrie Schwartz (1916-1995) is both the author and the main character of Morrie: In His Own Words. Schwartz taught sociology at Brandeis for around thirty-five years where he studied the sociology of grief, suffering and death. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease at age 77 and died at age 78. In the meanwhile, he composed a number of his thoughts which became both Morrie: In His Own Words and the book and later movie Tuesdays with Morrie. The movie was inspired by the interviews that Ted Koppel, an ABC news anchor, did with Schwartz in 1995, not too long before Schwartz died.