Pat Conroy, who turned tales of his painfully dysfunctional family into best-selling novels such as "The Great Santini" and "The Prince of Tides," died on Friday at the age of 70, his publishing company said.
Conroy, who had announced in a Feb. 15 Facebook post that he had pancreatic cancer, died at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, surrounded by family and loved ones, said Todd Doughty, a spokesman for Doubleday.
“The water is wide and he has now passed over,” said his wife, novelist Cassandra King Conroy.
Much of Conroy's work was inspired by a dark muse - his father, U.S. Marine Colonel Donald Conroy. The elder Conroy was a fighter pilot who fought in four wars - World War Two, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the long-running conflict with his family. He was a tyrant who beat his wife and children.



Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, partakes in the NYC Pride march on Sunday.
The grand...
Three firefighters were killed and two others injured Saturday while they tackled wildfires on the Colorado-Utah...
A 22-year-old visitor to Yosemite national park in California died after he was swept over a...





























