Marjorie Williams, 47; Newspaper Columnist, Magazine Writer

Marjorie Williams, 47, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, died of liver cancer Sunday at her home in the nation’s capital.

Williams, also a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, was known for her elegantly crafted essays on U.S. society and her tough profiles of members of the nation’s political elite.

A native of Princeton, N.J., Williams was the daughter of book editor Alan Williams. She attended Harvard, but dropped out after two years to work as an assistant to a book editor.

In 1986, Williams decided to try journalism, landing an editing job at the Washington Post. She later asked for a writing position, and moved to the Post’s Style section, where she began writing profiles. She became a columnist on the Post’s Op-Ed page in 2001, about the same time her advanced liver cancer was diagnosed.