[2] During his career, he received an Emmy Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and the non-degree Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.
[4] Del Olmo tried to enlist in the U.S. Air Force after graduation at the height of the Vietnam War but was rejected from becoming a fighter pilot because he did not satisfy the eyesight requirements.
[4] Del Olmo transferred to California State University, Northridge and finished his journalism degree magna cum laude there in 1970.
[2][4] Throughout his work at the Los Angeles Times (and especially when he became a columnist in 1980), he wrote about and advocated on topics such as illegal immigration, issues affecting the Latino community, city policies, pop culture, and even baseball.
"[2] On February 19, 2004, del Olmo collapsed in his office at the Los Angeles Times and was pronounced dead of a heart attack at Good Samaritan Hospital.