Categories: OLD Media Moves

Former auto writer dies; covered beat for 50 years

Albert Fleming, who covered the auto industry for a number of publications, including the Detroit Free Press, has died. He was 78.

Eric Lawrence of the Free Press writes, “David Smith, a former business editor at the Free Press and currently editor at large of the monthly Ward’s Auto World in Southfield, remembered Mr. Fleming for the biting satire and humor in his writing. Mr. Fleming wrote a weekly column for the Free Press more than 30 years ago when Smith was with the paper.

“‘Got me in trouble a few times, quite a few times,’ Smith said of Mr. Fleming’s writing. ‘He loved to cast barbs in every direction.’

“Mr. Fleming of Bloomfield Hills often poked fun at the heads of the Detroit area’s automotive companies at a time when the industry took itself very seriously, Smith said, noting that Mr. Fleming was not only a witty writer but also a good reporter.”