Frome, Michael

Noted writer and conservationist Michael Frome was born in New York City May 25, 1920, the son of William and Henrietta (Marks) Frome. Between 1936 and 1939 he attended City College (now City College of the City University of New York), and in 1946 attended George Washington University. Frome began his long and distinguished journalistic career as managing editor of the Main Line Times, Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in 1941. He served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command between 1942 and 1945. Following World War II he was a reporter with the Washington Post. He became the first western reporter to penetrate the iron curtain around Poland when he joined a former Army pilot on a relief flight carrying eggs. In 1946 he became managing editor of the Herald Journal, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and in 1947 was a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean. From 1947 to 1957 he was travel editor for publications of the American Automobile Association, Washington, D.C. Frome began writing articles for American Forests in 1959 and in 1966 was offered a regular column, but because he was often critical of U.S. Forest Service policies he was dropped as a writer in 1971. His outspokenness on conservation issues and his refusal to submit to editorial censorship caused him similar problems at Field & Stream where he was the conservation editor and columnist from 1968 to 1974. He was a regular columnist for Changing Times (1959-1981) and Women's Day (1961-1982), and also contributed articles to American Forests, Living Wilderness, Defenders, and Western Outdoors. In addition to his writing, Frome has also taught at several universities. He was visiting professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont in 1978; author in residence at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation Studies, Milford, Pennsylvania in 1981; visiting professor in the College of Forestry at the University of Idaho (which honored him by establishing the Michael Frome Scholarship for Excellence in Conservation Writing), 1982-1986; Environmental Scholar in Residence at Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin, 1986-1987; and visiting professor at Huxley College of Environmental Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, where he developed a program in environmental journalism in 1987. Frome delivered the 1982 Wilderness Resource Distinguished Lecture at the University of Idaho entitled "Battle for the Wilderness: Our Forever Conflict." Other lectures include the 1984 Horace M. Albright Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, "The Twentieth Anniversary of the Wilderness Act: Still in Pursuit of the Promised Land", and on April 12, 1988 "Is There a Place for Wilderness in the 21st Century" was the title of his talk at the Distinguished Visitors Seminar at the University of Washington, College of Forest Resources.Among the awards he has received are the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, 1967; Trout Unlimited's Trout Conservationist of the Year, 1972; Mort Weisinger Award, presented by the American Society of Journalists and Authors for the best Magazine Article of the Year for his 1981 five part series "The Ungreening of the National Parks," which was published in Travel Agent and subsequently in National Parks Magazine and in the book National Parks in Crisis; and the second Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award, given by the National Parks and Conservation Association, April 1986.Frome was a member of many organizations including the National Parks Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Society of Authors and Journalists, Society of American Travel Writers, Defenders of Wildlife, American Rivers Conservation Council, Environmental Policy Institute, Outdoor Writers Association of America, National Press Club and Cosmos Club.