Frank McCourt dies at 78

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt, whose memoir Angela's Ashes (1998) chronicled his miserable Irish Catholic childhood in Limerick, Ireland, succumbed to meningitis (a complication from a recent bout with melanoma) this afternoon in New York. He is survived by his third wife, Ellen, his daughter Maggie, his three brothers: Malachy, Alphie, and Michael, and a world of readers, former students, and great admirers.

His family will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Frank McCourt near death

According to his brother, author/actor Malachy McCourt, the award-winning author Francis "Frank" McCourt is gravely ill, and not expected to live very long. McCourt is in a New York hospice with meningitis and, according to Malachy, "his faculties are shutting down." The meningitis is likely a complication from the melanoma for which he was treated earlier this year.

The author is best known for his novel Angela's Ashes (1996), a memoir of his impoverished Irish Catholic childhood, and won the Pulitzer Prize. The book was followed by 'Tis (1999), which picks up where Angela's Ashes left off, and follows McCourt's young adulthood upon his return to New York. The chronicle of McCourt's life was finished in his final memoir, Teacher Man (2005), describing his career in New York high schools and colleges.

Frank McCourt was born on August 19, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York.



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