The writer Francis Stuart, who died suddenly yesterday morning in Ennis, Co Clare, would have been 98 in April. He had been in frail health for some years.
His wife, artist Finola Graham, who was with him, said afterwards his cat Min "had snuggled into Francis and he gradually just ebbed away very peacefully".
Francis Stuart was the author of many books. The autobiographical novel Black List, Section H, published in 1971, was widely regarded as his finest.
However, it was less his writing skills and more his personal history that caused him to become so well known in old age.
For much of the past decade he was embroiled in successive controversies regarding the years he spent in Germany during the second World War and the public broadcasts he made at that time.
A member of Aosdana, in October 1996 he was elected to the institution's highest position of Saoi, but just over a year later had to face calls for the resignation of his membership.
After fractious debate, this motion was defeated.
Few Irish writers in the second half of the 20th century excited as much animosity and equally vociferous support as Francis Stuart. Yesterday, however, a number of his closest friends paid tribute to the man and his work.
Poet Paul Durcan, who pointed out that February 2nd was James Joyce's birthday, commented: "Most writers are egotists, but not Francis - the gentlest, kindest, tenderest, least self-seeking man I have ever known."
Yesterday Mr Anthony Cronin also mentioned James Joyce, describing Francis Stuart as this century's finest Irish novelist after the earlier writer.
According to Mr Cronin, Stuart "had a profound admiration for Heidegger and shared his surprise at mere existence.
His novels ask the fundamental question: "What does it mean to exist and what use do we intend to make of existence?" Fellow writer Mr Ulick O'Connor called Francis Stuart "one of the best writers of the 20th century", and said: "Francis believed in the necessity of not conforming in any way."
He added that Stuart preferred not to respond to his critics in old age because he "was preoccupied with what was going on inside him, like a contemplative".
Similarly, Mr Dermot Bolger, whose Raven Press published 11 books by Francis Stuart from 1982 said yesterday that "although his critics . . . were obsessed by the past, I always found him to be primarily engaged and excited by the present and the future".
Mr Bolger added that Francis Stuart "is one of only a handful of 20th century Irish writers that I can imagine future generations embracing".
In Co Clare yesterday evening, Francis Stuart's body was being brought to his wife's house at Fanore where it will remain until tonight.