A native of Detroit and graduate of Wayne State University,[1] he won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1995 for his stories concerning the Rwandan genocide.
As a staff writer for the Associated Press (AP), from 1984-1997, and again in 2003, Fritz reported on the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Somalia, Chechnya, and Liberia, among others.
Fritz also served a stint on the agency's computer-assisted investigative reporting team and as roving foreign correspondent for the International Desk in New York.
He subsequently worked as a New York-based national writer for the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and as an investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal.
Before returning to the AP in 2003, Fritz left the news business to perform humanitarian work in the Darfur region of Sudan for the International Rescue Committee, and conduct war crimes investigations for Human Rights Watch in Uganda.