{{short description|American journalist}} '''Christopher Michael Brick''' (June 21, 1974 – February 8, 2016) was an American journalist and songwriter. He worked as a freelance writer and as a writer for ''The New York Times''. Brick was working for the ''Houston Chronicle'' at the time of his death from cancer.

==Biography== Born in Cheverly, Maryland, Brick moved to Dallas as a teenager. He graduated from R. L. Turner High School in Carrollton and the University of Texas at Austin.<ref name=Whittaker/> Brick worked as a research assistant for Kurt Eichenwald on the book ''The Informant''. "Pretty soon, not only was he doing everything exceptionally, but I began to recognize his writing skills, which I hadn't been paying attention to. By the time he was finished working with me, it became clear to me that on a lot of levels he was better than me," Eichenwald said.<ref name="Schiller">{{cite web|last1=Schiller|first1=Dane|title=Michael Brick, songwriter and journalist, remembered|url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Michael-Brick-6815603.php|publisher=Houston Chronicle|accessdate=March 29, 2016|date=February 9, 2016}}</ref>

Brick was on the staff of ''The New York Times'' from 2001 to 2008. He covered events including the Enron scandal and Hurricane Katrina with ''The New York Times''.<ref name=Whittaker/> He became a freelance writer in 2008.<ref name="UT">{{cite web|title=In memoriam|url=http://moody.utexas.edu/features/memoriam|publisher=University of Texas at Austin|accessdate=March 29, 2016}}</ref> In 2013 and 2014, he was an adviser for ''The Daily Texan'', the student newspaper for which he had written when he attended UT Austin.<ref name="Texan">{{cite web|last1=Zhang|first1=Amy|title=Former Texan adviser Michael Brick dies at age 41|url=http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/02/09/former-texan-adviser-michael-brick-dies-at-age-41|publisher=The Daily Texan|accessdate=March 29, 2016|date=February 9, 2016}}</ref> He joined the ''Houston Chronicle'' in 2014, and published a column known as The Sporting Life.<ref name=Whittaker/>

Brick's 2012 book, ''Saving the School: The True Story of a Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids, and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform'', told the story of the struggling Reagan High School in Austin, Texas.<ref name="Whittaker">{{cite web|last1=Whittaker |first1=Richard |title=Education reporter Michael Brick dead |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/arts/2016-02-08/education-reporter-michael-brick-dead/ |publisher=The Austin Chronicle |accessdate=March 29, 2016 |date=February 8, 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320053554/http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/arts/2016-02-08/education-reporter-michael-brick-dead/ |archivedate=March 20, 2016 }}</ref> Brick followed several teachers, a number of students, and the principal of the school as he was writing the book.<ref name="Mooney">{{cite news|last1=Mooney|first1=Michael J.|title=Local author writes book that could change American education forever|url=http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2012/08/30/local-author-writes-book-that-could-change-american-education-forever/|work=D Magazine|date=August 30, 2012|accessdate=March 29, 2016}}</ref> Patrick Welsh of ''The Washington Post'' said that the book "is a compelling, enlightening account of a school community rising to save itself."<ref name="Welsh">{{cite news|last1=Welsh|first1=Patrick|title="Saving the School: The True Story of a Principal, a Teacher, a Coach, a Bunch of Kids and a Year in the Crosshairs of Education Reform" by Michael Brick|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/saving-the-school-the-true-story-of-a-principal-a-teacher-a-coach-a-bunch-of-kids-and-a-year-in-the-crosshairs-of-education-reform-by-michael-brick/2012/08/24/346d4b6e-eadb-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html|accessdate=March 29, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 24, 2012}}</ref>

Brick wrote music and played guitar and mandolin. In college, he formed a band known as Bottle of Smoke, and later in Brooklyn, he started another band in Brooklyn called The Music Grinders.<ref name=Schiller/> He died of colon cancer in 2016.<ref name="Slotnik">{{cite news|last1=Slotnik|first1=Daniel|title=Michael Brick, former Times reporter, dies at 41|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/business/media/michael-brick-former-times-reporter-dies-at-41.html|accessdate=March 29, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=February 8, 2016}}</ref> He was survived by his wife and three children.<ref name=Schiller/>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brick, Michael}} Category:American male songwriters Category:1974 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in Texas Category:The New York Times journalists Category:Houston Chronicle people