TORONTO — Author Elmore Leonard, whose novels Get Shorty and Out of Sight and were turned into popular movies, has died at 87.
According to a message on his Facebook page, Leonard passed away early Tuesday at his home in Oakland County, Michigan.
“The post I dreaded to write, and you dreaded to read,” wrote the author’s researcher Gregg Sutter. “Elmore passed away at 7:15 this morning from complications from his stroke. He was at home surrounded by his loving family.”
Leonard suffered a stroke on July 29.
“No crime writer in the history of American letters was his equal,” opined author Joe Hill on Twitter.
Fellow author Harlan Coben described Leonard on Twitter as “the coolest guy in every room.”
Writer Jason Pinter called Leonard “a brilliant writer who affected so many aspects of our culture.”
Born in New Orleans, Leonard moved with his family to Detroit in 1934. After graduating from high school he joined the Navy and served for three years in the South Pacific. He pursued writing while a student at the University of Detroit and graduated with an English degree.
Leonard would go on to publish dozens of short stories. His first novel, The Bounty Hunters, came out in 1953.
Many of the novelist’s stories have been adapted for television and the big screen, including Rum Punch (as 1997’s Jackie Brown), 3:10 to Yuma, Be Cool and the made-in-Toronto Killshot. The TV series Justified is based on Leonard’s works.
Leonard had been working on his 46th novel when he suffered his stroke.
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