After attending Yale University, Charles R. Eisendrath dropped out of law school to become a journalist. He served as a TIME correspondent in Washington, London, and Paris, bureau chief in Buenos Aires, and professor at the University of Michigan. His freelance work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, International Herald-Tribune, and The Atlantic. At the University of Michigan, Eisendrath founded Wallace House Center for Journalists. It includes the Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowships, one of the nation's leading mid-career professional programs, and the Livingston Awards, widely known as "the Pulitzer Prize for the young." Director of the program from 1986-2016, he raised a $60 million endowment to permanently support the fellowships and was founding director of the awards.In the culinary world, Eisendrath is known for founding Grillworks, Inc. and the patented device that helped reintroduce Americans to cooking over wood. The company is now owned by his eldest son, Ben. His son Mark, two years younger, is an artist. Eisendrath and his wife, Julia, live in Ann Arbor and East Jordan, Michigan.
