Pat Caputo Dies at 37 Years With Oakland Press

pat caputo died on May 7 after a battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, ending the life of a columnist and radio personality many Detroit sports fans knew as “The Book.” His family said he was surrounded by them when he died, and the loss closes a career that stretched across more than four decades in the city’s sports media scene.

Pat Caputo on May 7

His family posted the news on his Facebook page: “Today May 7th we lost Pat to cancer. Pat was surrounded by his family. Thank you for all your support.” The statement was brief, but it put the date, cause, and setting in plain view for the audience that had followed him for years.

Caputo had publicly announced on January 5 that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In that announcement, he described the disease as a “death sentence” and said additional health complications had landed him in intensive care for several days. Those details turned his later death into a story many readers could already see taking shape, even if they did not know the timing.

Oakland Press to Detroit radio

For 37 years, Caputo worked at the Oakland Press before later moving into work with 97.1 The Ticket and FOX 2 Detroit. He covered the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Detroit Pistons, and Detroit Red Wings over a career that spanned more than four decades, which made him a regular presence across the teams that shaped local sports talk and columns.

He also earned recognition among the nation’s top sports columnists by the Sports Editors. That combination of print work, radio, and television gave him a reach that went well beyond one beat or one era, and it is why his death lands as more than the loss of a familiar byline.

Stage 4 pancreatic cancer

The diagnosis mattered because Caputo had already told readers exactly what he was facing on January 5. He used the phrase “death sentence,” and the comment about several days in intensive care showed how serious the illness had become before his death on May 7.

For readers who knew him from the newspaper, radio, or television, the clearest next step is not a schedule item or a new posting. It is the same one his family asked for in their note: support for the people left behind after a longtime Detroit sports voice is gone.