John Updike, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Rabbit, Runseries and The Witches of Eastwick,died today at the age of 76, said a spokesman for his publishing house.
He was considered to be a leading writer of his generation who chronicled the emotional drama of American small town life with searing wit.
"It is with great sadness that I report that John Updike died this morning at the age of 76, after a battle with lung cancer." said Nicholas Latimer of Alfred A. Knopf, a unit of Random House.
"He was one of our greatest writers, and he will be sorely missed."
Latimer said Updike died in a hospice in Massachusetts.
Known for exploring themes of sexual tension, and spiritual and moral angst in small town settings, Updike's
Rabbit is Rich, published in 1981, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
A decade later, his
Rabbit at Restwon a second Pulitzer Prize.
Updike was also a poet and short-story writer and essayist.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Updike studied English at Harvard University, where he contributed to, and later edited, the satirical
Harvard Lampoon Magazine. He later joined the writing staff of the
New Yorkermagazine.