Pat Conroy, author of ‘The Prince of Tides,’ dies at 70

Pat Conroy, the author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, died on March 4. He was 70 years old.

Conroy died after a short fight with pancreatic cancer. He died at his home in South Carolina, reports the Island Packet of Hilton Head Island. “The water is wide but he has now crossed over,” his wife, Cassandra King, told the local paper through a friend. Conroy’s death comes just four weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Todd Doughty, Doubleday vice president and executive director of publicity, also confirmed Conroy’s death to the New York Times.

Conroy faced a troubled childhood, with an abusive father. He used his experience in his lyrical novels. They might have been fiction, but they were grounded in the South Carolina past he recalled.

His novels were often mined for movies. The Water Is Wide became the Jon Voight-starrer Conrack in 1974. The Great Santini, which featured a character similar to his father, became a film in 1979 with Robert Duvall and Blythe Danner. The Lords of Discipline, which was influenced by his time at the Citadel military academy, turned into a film in 1983.

However, his biggest success came with The Prince of Tides, the story of a teacher who helps his suicidal sister in New York. The 1991 film version was chosen by Barbra Streisand to be her second film as director and was a major success. It was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and Nick Nolte was nominated for Best Actor.

Conroy did publish a few nonfiction books, including a cookbook in 1999, 2010’s My Reading Life and 2013’s The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son. He was working on a new book about his life during the 1970s.

Conroy is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sisters, three brothers and seven grandchildren.