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Drew Sharp, longtime Detroit sports columnist, dies at 56

Last Updated Oct 21, 2016 at 1:32 pm MDT

In this May 19, 2015, Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp poses at Comerica Park in Detroit. Sharp, a longtime Detroit sports columnist, died Friday, Oct. 21 2016, at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, The Detroit Free Press said. He was 56. Sharp joined the paper as a sports writer in 1983 and was named a columnist in 1999. (Diane Weiss/Detroit Free Press via AP)

DETROIT – The Detroit Free Press says sports columnist Drew Sharp has died. He was 56.

The newspaper says Sharp died Friday at his home in Bloomfield Hills, a Detroit suburb. No other details were immediately released.

Sharp spent decades at the Free Press, joining the paper as a sports writer in 1983. His wife, Karen Sharp says her husband “loved his job more than anything.”

When he was named a columnist in 1999, Sharp told readers that his job wasn’t to “blindly lead cheers” or simply “slam” people from his perch. He said he had a responsibility to “raise questions and express doubts.”

His last column this week was about Michigan State’s basketball team.

Sharp covered the Detroit Pistons for years before becoming a columnist. The team expressed its condolences.