P.J. O'Rourke, irreverent author and commentator, dead at 74
ABC News
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NEW YORK -- P.J. O'Rourke, the prolific author and satirist who re-fashioned the irreverence and “Gonzo” journalism of the 1960s counterculture into a distinctive brand of conservative and libertarian commentary, has died at age 74.
O'Rourke died Tuesday morning, according to Grove Atlantic Inc. Books publisher and president Morgan Entrekin. The cause was complications from lung cancer.
Patrick Jake O'Rourke was a Toledo, Ohio, native who evolved from long-haired student activist to wavy-haired scourge of his old liberal ideals, with some of his more widely read takedowns appearing in a founding counterculture publication, Rolling Stone. His career otherwise extended from serving as editor in chief of National Lampoon to a brief stint on “60 Minutes” in which he represented the conservative take on “Point/Counterpoint”; to frequent appearances on NPR's game show “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!”
“Most well-known people try to be nicer than they are in public than they are in private life. PJ was the only man I knew to be the opposite. He was a deeply kind and generous man who pretended to be a curmudgeon for public consumption,” tweeted Peter Sagal, the host of “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!”
