Detroit News biz columnist is funny

Detroit News personal finance editor Brian J. O’Connor on Saturday won the first-place award for humor columns — yes, humor columns — published in large newspapers by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

A story on the News web site stated, “O’Connor, whose column runs Saturdays in The News business section, was cited for a Father’s Day column on the money lessons children teach their parents; a column on working over the Fourth of July weekend; and a third on an uptick in divorce filings after summertime family vacations.

“The humor category was judged by Emily Swartzlander, a former Associated Press editor and reporter who also managed the Thurber Prize for American Humor, the nation’s highest honor in the art of humor writing.

“‘Anyone who can make business and the workplace this funny is a winner in my book,’ Swartzlander wrote in the judge’s comments. ‘This column is engaging and fun.'”

Read more here. O’Connor joined the News in October 2004 and has been penning his column since May 2005. He is a 1978 graduate of the Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills and holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College. O’Connor also earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, where he was a 2001 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business.Â