Writers and editors

Writers and editors

George MacDonald Fraser, 82; author of the “Flashman” series of historical adventure novels (Jan. 2)

Gilbert A. Harrison, 92; editor of the New Republic, helped launch new talent (Jan. 3)

Philip Agee, 72; former CIA official wrote book divulging agency secrets (Jan. 7)

Leo Janos, 74, former speechwriter for President Johnson and coauthor of autobiography of test pilot Chuck Yeager (Jan. 11)

Hone Tuwhare, 86; the first Maori poet to be published in English (Jan. 16)

Edward D. Hoch, 77; prolific short-story writer was fixture in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Jan. 17)

Margaret Truman Daniels, 83; the only child of President Truman, wrote well-received mystery novels set in Washington, D.C. (Jan. 29)

Rudy Abramson, 70; former Los Angeles Times reporter who wrote a widely praised biography of W. Averell Harriman (Feb. 13)

Robin Moore, 82; author best known for nonfiction works “The French Connection” and “The Green Berets” (Feb. 21)

George Marsh Fredrickson, 73; an authority on the history of racism whose work comparing the histories of South Africa and the American South helped spawn a new field of study (Feb. 25)

Arthur C. Clarke, 90; visionary titan of science fiction who collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on “2001: A Space Odyssey” (March 19)

Jon Hassler, 74; novelist chronicled small-town life in America (March 20)

Arthur Lyons, 62; wrote detective novels set in California and co-founded the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival (March 21)

Simon Michael Bessie, 92; book publisher guided literary efforts of eight Nobel Prize winners (April 7)

William W. Warner, 88; retired Foreign Service officer won a Pulitzer Prize for his book on Chesapeake Bay fishermen (April 18)

William Frankel, 91; editor guided the Jewish Chronicle of London for nearly two decades (April 18)

Charles Hillinger, 82; longtime Los Angeles Times feature writer developed a loyal following for his quirky reports on the weird and wonderful in California and around the world (April 28)

Elaine Dundy, 86; author wrote of her turbulent life with critic Kenneth Tynan (May 1)

Nuala O’Faolain, 68; Irish journalist and memoirist (May 9)

Oakley Hall, 87; author and teacher whose novels set in California and its environs helped define contemporary Western literature and who helped launch the careers of such writers as Michael Chabon, Richard Ford and Amy Tan (May 12)

George Garrett, 78; author of more than 30 books of fiction, poetry and biography, including an acclaimed trilogy of novels set in Elizabethan England (May 26)

Eliot Asinof, 88; author who invited readers behind the scenes of the sports world with books such as “Eight Men Out” (June 10)

Tasha Tudor, 92; children’s book illustrator and author whose delicate and dreamy artwork was featured in about 80 books, including a 1944 edition of “Mother Goose” (June 18)

Clay Felker, 82; innovative founding editor of New York magazine who was widely considered one of the great post- World War II magazine editors in America and a key figure in the emergence of New Journalism in the 1960s (July 1)

Jules Tygiel, 59; baseball historian and author who wrote “Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy” (July 1)

Sue Alexander, 74; wrote such children’s books as “Nadia the Willful” and helped found the L.A.-based Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (July 3)

Thomas M. Disch, 68; prolific and unconventional science fiction writer (July 4)

Roger Hall, 89; World War II spy wrote the bestselling memoir “You’re Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger” (July 20)

Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn, 89; Nobel laureate’s writing mirrored turmoil and repression of his beloved Russia (Aug. 3)

Ted Solotaroff, 79; founder of New American Review and editor to E.L. Doctorow, Bobbie Ann Mason and Richard Ford, among others (Aug. 8)

Mahmoud Darwish, 67; leading Palestinian poet was a political and cultural icon (Aug. 9)

Dale Pitt, 77; who co-wrote with her husband “Los Angeles A to Z,” the first encyclopedia on the city and county of Los Angeles (Aug. 10)

L. Rust Hills, 83; longtime fiction editor at Esquire magazine who published the work of the best writers in America (Aug. 12)

Dave Freeman, 47; co-wrote “100 Things to Do Before You Die” (Aug. 17)

Manny Farber, 91; iconoclastic and influential film critic and artist (Aug. 18)

Ralph Kovel, 88; pioneered pricing of antique items with popular books (Aug. 28.)

Edwin O. Guthman, 89; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, former national editor of the Los Angeles Times and confidant of Robert F. Kennedy (Aug. 31)

Robert Giroux, 94; giant of 20th century publishing helped guide the careers of T.S. Eliot, Jack Kerouac, Susan Sontag and Bernard Malamud (Sept. 5)

Gregory McDonald, 71; author whose bestselling “Fletch” mystery books also were made into films (Sept. 7)

David Foster Wallace, 46; novelist, essayist and humorist best known for his tome “Infinite Jest” (Sept. 12)

Charlotte Kohler, 99; editor cultivated distinguished writers for the Virginia Quarterly Review (Sept. 15)

James Crumley, 68; revered and influential crime novelist whose hard-boiled detective tales set in Montana and other Western locales were praised for both their grittiness and lyrical quality (Sept. 17)

Richard M. Sudhalter, 69; jazz critic and biographer whose history of white jazz musicians brought gales of protest (Sept. 19)

Nancy H. Maynard, 61; former Washington Post reporter and co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education (Sept. 21)

Osborn Elliott, 83; former editor of Newsweek magazine who turned the publication’s focus to social issues (Sept. 28)

Hayden Carruth, 87; award-winning poet who wrote about the people and places of northern Vermont (Sept. 29)

Marilyn Ferguson, 70; author of the 1980 bestseller “The Aquarian Conspiracy” and a galvanizing influence on participants in scores of alternative groups that coalesced as the New Age movement (Oct. 19)

Mireille Marokvia, 99; French author of two critically acclaimed memoirs of life in wartime Europe (Oct. 19)

Peter J. Levinson, 74; jazz publicist also wrote biographies of key figures from the big-band era (Oct. 21)

Tony Hillerman, 83; author of the bestselling series of mystery novels set in the Southwest featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee (Oct. 26)

Studs Terkel, 96; made his name listening to ordinary folks talk about their ordinary lives and turned that knack for conversation into a much-honored literary career (Oct. 31)

Bill Stall, 71; Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times (Nov. 2)

Michael Crichton, 66; creator of “Jurassic Park” and “ER” was a towering figure in pop culture (Nov. 4)

John Leonard, 69; literary and cultural critic who was an early champion of Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and many other authors (Nov. 5)

Joe Hyams, 85; former Hollywood columnist and bestselling author of books, including biographies of Humphrey Bogart and James Dean as well as a popular tome on Eastern philosophy (Nov. 8)

Richard Shortway, 84; former longtime publisher of Vogue magazine and a senior executive at Conde Nast (Nov. 10)

Clive Barnes, 81; avuncular and quotable critic who covered New York’s theater and dance scene for more than 40 years (Nov. 19)

George C. Chesbro, 68; author’s inventive private-eye novels had a dwarf as the main character (Nov. 18)

Vera Glaser, 92; reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance fueled the hiring of women during the Nixon administration (Nov. 26)

Carol Houck Smith, 85; edited several leading American poets (Nov. 29)

Doris J. Dungey, 47; influential blogger on the mortgage meltdown (Nov. 30)

Dorothy Sterling, 95; a significant figure in 20th century children’s literature who wrote an early biography of Harriet Tubman (Dec. 1)

Forrest J Ackerman, 92; author, magazine editor and collector of memorabilia was considered the grand old man of science fiction (Dec. 4)

Conor Cruise O’Brien, 91; an Irish iconoclast who led several lives as a diplomat, government minister, author and newspaper editor (Dec. 18)

Paul Hofmann, 96; an Austrian who informed on his Nazi commanders and later became a longtime New York Times correspondent (Dec. 30)

Donald E. Westlake, 75; prolific mystery writer who won three Edgar Awards and the elite title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America (Dec. 31)