Pat Conroy, the author of bestselling fiction and memoirs, mostly set in the South, died last week at age 70. Much of Conroy's fiction came from his own life. He was the son of a Marine Corps fighter pilot and experienced the transient youth of a military brat (a subculture he helped popularize). His father was emotionally and physically abusive, inspiring the protagonist's father, Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham, in The Great Santini (1976). His college years at the Citadel in South Carolina were fertile ground for The Lords of Discipline (1980), and he drew on the year he spent as a teacher in a remote island schoolhouse for The Water Is Wide (1972). Conroy's love of basketball, his attachment to the South Carolina coast and his relationship with his father are all frequent themes in his work.
His best-known work, The Prince of Tides (1986), bundles many of Conroy's demons into a literary look at depression and dark family secrets. It follows Tom Wingo, a former football player from South Carolina who travels to New York City to help his sister, Savannah, whose lifelong history of mental illness has culminated in another suicide attempt. Through the course of the novel, Tom recounts his traumatic childhood to Savannah's psychiatrist in the hopes that his information can save his sister. The book became a bestseller and inspired a 1991 film directed by Barbra Streisand, who also starred alongside Nick Nolte, Melinda Dillon and Kate Nelligan. It was last reprinted in 2002 by Dial Press ($17, 9780553381542).
Conroy was also beloved by booksellers and publishers. In one of many tributes, Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle called Conroy "a wonderful partner and friend to sales and to our booksellers. From the moment I met him, it was so clear, and so obvious to me why he was such a treasured member of our publishing family: his openness, his goodness, his warmth, and of course, his stories." --Tobias Mutter
