He is the son of immigrants, his father having fled from Budapest, Hungary in 1939, and his mother came to America from Europe as a German Jew in 1941; both leaving their homeland to escape from Hitler's reign.
In 1997, Vitez, along with Inquirer photographers April Saul and Ron Cortes, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for a series of articles he wrote on end-of-life care, telling the stories of terminally ill patients who wished to die with dignity.
He is the son of immigrants, his father, Thomas Vitez, fled Budapest, Hungary in 1939, and his mother, Marianne, came to America from Europe as a German Jew in 1941; both leaving their homeland to escape from Hitler's reign.
In 1997, Vitez, along with Inquirer photographers April Saul and Ron Cortes, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for a series of articles he wrote on end-of-life care, telling the stories of terminally ill patients who wished to die with dignity.
[3] As a result of his work leading up to his Pulitzer Prize win, Vitez wrote Final Choices, a book, based on his award-winning articles, focusing on individuals in pursuit of a noble death that was published in 1997.
[10] The book features glossy, color photos by Inquirer photographer and fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Gralish, and an introduction by the star of the Rocky movies, Sylvester Stallone.