Jim Sheeler began writing obituaries in 1996 for the "Boulder Planet, "a community newspaper. He also wrote an obituary feature for the "Sunday Denver Post "and later worked as a reporter for the "Rocky Mountain News." In 2006, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for a story that chronicled a year with US Marines casualty notification officers. He expanded that research into his second book, "Final Salute" (Penguin), which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award in nonfiction. He is the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously he was a Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has spoken internationally at journalism conferences and his freelance writing has been published in outlets ranging from "The Washington Post Magazine "to "Paris Match. "He received a BA in Journalism from Colorado State University and he earned his MA in Journalism at the University of Colorado. He lives in Ohio with his wife and son.