Professor tells of wife’s battle with ALS in Beliefnet article

Sharon Schwartz

Beliefnet.com, an online resource for inspiration, faith, and spirituality, recently published an article by Dr. Stuart Schwartz, a professor in Liberty University’s School of Communication, on the legacy of his late wife, Sharon, who passed away on Jan. 7 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The article, “Sharon’s Joy, God’s Grief, and a Hallmark Death,” was adapted from Schwartz’s forthcoming book of the same title. In it, he recounts his wife’s zest for life, the legacy she has left their two daughters, the inner joy she had as she fought a ravaging disease, her loving friendships, and the wisdom she dispensed in her final months.

“Even in dying,” Schwartz writes, “she was the type of person who caused her friends, her family, and the caregivers assisting us to say to her, ‘I want what you have — how can you be so at peace?’ Jesus Christ was both her answer and explanation. She was satisfied with being who she was where she was and, especially, having given her all to raising a family.”

The couple was married for almost 33 years.

As a professor of Digital Media & Communication Arts, Schwartz teaches courses in advertising, direct marketing, and integrated marketing communications at the undergraduate level, as well as social media marketing strategies at the graduate level. The former media and consumer merchandising executive is the author of “The Savvy Social Media Guide.”