Best selling author Tom Clancy died Tuesday night at Johns Hopkins Hospital near his home in Baltimore after a brief illness. He was 66.
He graduated from Loyola University in 1969 and made his literary debut in 1984 with ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ a surprise hit featuring the world’s first glimpse of fictional character Jack Ryan.
Clancy went on to become a prolific writer of spy thrillers that were technically detailed espionage tales set during and after the Cold War.
He once told The Washington Post, “I started writing my first book from the beginning, not knowing how it was going to end. It really was fun that way…If you plan things ahead of time you lose spontaneity.”
Many of his works of fiction were made into commercially successful films. That list includes ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ ‘Patriot Games,’ ‘Clear and Present Danger’ and ‘The Sum of All Fears.’
In 1996 Clancy co-founded Red Storm Entertainment, lending his name to some of the company’s most successful video games.
Clancy wed his current wife Alexandra Llewellyn in 1999. She was a freelance television reporter 20 years his junior who now runs a fashion accessories line called Love, Alex. They split their time between their Chesapeake Bay, Maryland mansion, a vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard and a condo in Manhattan. She has a daughter Page.
His 28-year union with first wife Wanda Thomas produced four children. The couple split in 1996 after he began an extramarital affair with Llewellyn.
Tom Clancy’s latest book, ‘Command Authority,’ is slated for publication in December.
Photo: Facebook-Tom Clancy