I work in academia as a professor (an occupation known to be rife with addiction of many kinds) and have a close friend who is an severe alcoholic. I have known him for five years (we've been good friends for about 4 of those) and it's gotten to the point where I'm scared his days are clearly numbered. I actually haven't witnessed a lot of directly but, to make a long story short, he's unequivocally a serious addict. Most of our friendship is based on discussing books, films, and music at work and when we do socialize elsewhere he drinks moderately. Our homes are on opposite sides of the city thus we typically have dinner somewhere near campus or just hang out in one of our offices or at a coffee shop next to our department. Further, it's all the more heartbreaking because he is a well-respected and highly accomplished professor who is also continuously valued for being collegial and hardworking (even after 22 years at our college). However, the flexible schedule (especially given that he has tenure), lack of supervision, and strong salary in his position only serve to enable his behavior (he's also a smoker). I'm beginning to dread receiving a phone call that he has died from a heart attack, stroke, or organ failure of some kind.

Despite professional success, things start to come into focus when his personal story is considered. Details of his personal life are undoubtably a source of significant pain and likely the impetus for his addiction; he rarely mentions such incidents but it's obvious to me and others how deeply he is hurting. Even as a good friend, I don't know a great deal but I can deduce is that he is divorced (it was awful and messy), very lonely, and estranged from his one child (a 28 year old daughter living in NYC) who he sends a lot of money to but never sees despite her only being a 90 minute flight away.

When I first met him I assumed he was nearly my mother's age (she's now 67) and was shocked to learn he was 52. What's particularly depressing is that most of my other colleagues seem to know and simply accept that he has this potentially fatal problem (I'm one of the most recent hires, most have been in our department for longer, ranging from a dozen years up to 35 years) but seem to think there's nothing that can be done. For example, I noticed early on his hands shaking almost constantly and assumed he might have some sort of neurological condition. I mentioned this one day as an aside in our department kitchen nook and a colleague almost flippantly said "Oh, he's an alcoholic, a really heavy drinker. Didn't you know that?" I asked others about and they characterized his issues the same way or in a slightly adjusted but equivalent fashion: "he lives hard"; "he doesn't take care of himself"; or "he drinks all the time," etc. In sum, his alcoholism is very clearly killing him. He's aged considerably in the years I have known him, moves with obvious pain, has red, itchy skin (a sign liver damage I looked up), and seems weak and frail. My guess is that he's afraid to go get checked out by a physician. I want to help him but I don't know what to do.