Skip to main content
Thursday, November 12, 2026Nov 12
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

‘Prince of Tides’ author Pat Conroy dies at 70

In this Oct. 13, 2010 file photo, author Pat Conroy announces the finalists for the National Book Foundations annual awards during a gathering at the Flannery O'Connor House, in Savannah, Ga. Conroy, whose best-selling novels drew from his own sometimes painful experiences and evoked vistas of the South Carolina coast and its people, has died at age 70. Todd Doughty, executive director of publicity at publisher Doubleday, says Conroy died Friday evening, March 4, 2016, at his home in Beaufort surrounded by family and loved ones. (John Carrington/The Savannah Morning News via AP, File)
In this Oct. 13, 2010 file photo, author Pat Conroy announces the finalists for the National Book Foundations annual awards during a gathering at the Flannery O'Connor House, in Savannah, Ga. Conroy, whose best-selling novels drew from his own sometimes painful experiences and evoked vistas of the South Carolina coast and its people, has died at age 70. Todd Doughty, executive director of publicity at publisher Doubleday, says Conroy died Friday evening, March 4, 2016, at his home in Beaufort surrounded by family and loved ones. (John Carrington/The Savannah Morning News via AP, File) In this Oct. 13, 2010 file photo, author Pat Conroy announces the finalists for the National Book Foundations annual awards during a gathering at the Flannery O'Connor House, in Savannah, Ga. Conroy, whose best-selling novels drew from his own sometimes painful experiences and evoked vistas of the South Carolina coast and its people, has died at age 70. Todd Doughty, executive director of publicity at publisher Doubleday, says Conroy died Friday evening, March 4, 2016, at his home in Beaufort surrounded by family and loved ones. (John Carrington/The Savannah Morning News via AP, File)

By Staff Report 7 min read

Pat Conroy, the beloved author of “The Great Santini” and “The Prince of Tides” and other best-sellers who drew upon his bruising childhood and the vistas of South Carolina and became one of the country’s most compelling and popular storytellers, died Friday evening. He was 70.

Conroy, who announced last month that he had pancreatic cancer, died at home among family and loved ones in Beaufort, South Carolina, according to his publisher. The heavy-set author had battled other health problems in recent years, including diabetes, high blood pressure and a failing liver.

“The water is wide and he has now passed over,” his wife, novelist Cassandra Conroy, said in a statement from publisher Doubleday.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tweeted: “We can find comfort knowing his words and love for SC will live on.”

Funeral arrangements were still being made.