Eric Lax

Eric Lax is an American author who has written books on modern medicine, four books on Woody Allen including a biography, and a personal memoir "Faith: Interrupted" about his loss of Christian faith.
Biography.
Lax was raised in an Episcopalian family and graduated from Hobart College in 1966 with a major in English. Upon graduating he joined the Peace Corps serving in Chuuk and the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. After completing his two-year placement, he worked in Washington D.C. on the Peace Corps staff in a capacity that allowed him to travel to more than 40 countries.
He left the Peace Corps in 1970 to pursue writing full-time, and his interest in comedy led to his first book, "On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy" in 1975, which was part biography of Woody Allen and part general treatise on comedy. Lax also interviewed Groucho Marx for "Life" during the veteran comedian's 1972 trip to perform in Iowa. 
In 1984 Lax wrote "Life and Death on 10 West" about the bone marrow transplantation ward at the UCLA Medical Center, which was headed at the time by his college classmate Robert Peter Gale. It was recognized by "The New York Times Book Review" as one of the Notable Books of the Year and received an award from the Leukemia Society of America. Lax's books include "The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat", about the development of penicillin; "Woody Allen: A Biography" and "Conversations with Woody Allen", which comprises 40 years of interviews with Allen. With Ann M. Sperber, he is the co-author of "Bogart".
In addition to writing his books, Lax has written articles that have appeared in several periodical publications including "The Atlantic Monthly", "Esquire", the "Los Angeles Times", "The New York Times Magazine", "Vanity Fair", "Life", "The Washington Monthly", and "The Washington Post". He has worked as a contributing editor of "Esquire magazine".
He is a past president of PEN Center USA; and is currently a Vice President of PEN International; and a member of the board of "The Los Angeles Review of Books".
Personal life.
In 1982, Lax married Karen Alden Sulzberger, daughter of the late Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times and sister of current "Times" publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. in an Episcopal ceremony officiated by Bishop Harold B. Robinson. They have two sons and live in Beverly Hills.